Courier
by Log1c
Summary: When I was expelled from Beacon, I thought it was the end of my story; turns out it was only the beginning. I became a Courier, basically a badass mailman, and embraced my new life; until my old one came take to haunt me in the form of a job. A delivery for a Yang Xiao Long... I really hope she doesn't see this journal.
1. Chapter 1

_XX62_

All stories have a beginning, mine is no different. I grew up wanting nothing more than to be a Huntsmen, I wanted nothing more than to be the hero.

I'm still not sure if I could be considered a "hero" but I definitely never became a huntsman.

My "story" technically began the second I was born but you probably don't wanna hear about my childhood, I grew up with seven sisters so it wasn't necessarily fun all of the time. I love my sisters, don't get me wrong, but when you have such a high concentration of women in one house with just two men...things get weird.

I'm getting off track.

This particular part of my story starts at Beacon...my old home.

/~/

 _XX51_

I sighed deeply as I boredly clicked my pen, I was attempting to study for my History of Remnant test and was failing miserably, which is what I was probably going to do tomorrow during the test. I slumped down and lightly banged my head against my desk before groaning.

"How is your studying going, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from her bed, where she sat with a textbook across her lap.

"It's going." I muttered dryly, I was honestly only a quarter way through the chapter and nothing was sticking.

"Want some help?" I heard Ren ask from his bed, he was the intellectual of our team and had the second highest theory scores out of our year; only just behind Weiss.

"I'm okay, it's just a slow process." I lied, I was embarrassed; ever since I told Pyrrha about my faked transcripts I was determined to prove that I deserved to stayed at Beacon. I put everything into studying and training, but it looked like I was finally burned out.

"Whatever you say." Ren muttered, obviously not believing my lie. I was an awful liar at seventeen as well as an awkward mess, thank God I had completely mellowed out around them time I was legally able to drink. A coincidence? Probably.

I closed my textbook and tiredly set my head against the leather bound book, I had decided to bomb the test and get some rest then eventually retake the test once I wasn't burnt out. Standing up, I went to my bed, dug out the sky blue onesie (kinda regret losing that thing actually, it was pretty comfy once you got past the bunny on the front) that my oldest sister had given me as a going away gift and went to the bathroom to change.

The night went by quickly, it usually did in our dorm, friends have the tendency to make time go by a lot faster. The next day's classes went by almost as quickly and by the end of Goodwitch's class, Oobleck had managed to grade every test and had posted the results outside his classroom. I hadn't done as awful as I expected, I was in the middle of the class list with a seventy-one; not bad for only studying a quarter of the chapter honestly.

I was actually happy that i'd gotten such a solid grade, I didn't even suspect a thing when I was called to the Headmaster's office. I thought it was going to be something about team JNPR, Ozpin had was known to summon team leaders on occasion to just ask them about their team, I didn't suspect I was about to be sideswiped with the worst news of my life.

I rode the elevator up towards Ozpin's office, not knowing that the shovel known as real life was about to be smashed into my face. A beautiful image right?

Maybe she was right about this whole thing…

Anyway, the door of the elevator slid open and I was met with the sight of Headmaster Ozpin at his desk, coffee and tablet in hand, and Miss Goodwitch, who had her ever present riding crop in a loose grip at her side.

My naive and unsuspecting self wasn't ready for the next words I would hear as I walked towards the teachers, uttered by Headmaster Ozpin himself, "Jaune Arc, for falsifying your transcripts, you are hereby expelled from Beacon Academy."

I froze. How they found out about my transcripts was a total mystery to me at the time but it was the last thing on my mind, the thing at the forefront of my mind was what was I going to tell my team? What was I going to tell RWBY? What was I going to tell my family?

"You need to have left the campus by six o'clock, your personal possessions with you. Understood?" Goodwitch asked, her words barely registering as I slowly nodded my head. I didn't even bother arguing my expulsion, I just turned around and walked away with my head down; attempting to hide my tears.

To contrast the abysmal end of my career as a Huntsmen, I actually had some luck and discovered that my team had gone to dinner without me. So I sat in what was no longer my dorm and looked around, there were a lot of memories in that room and even though i'd only known them for a few months; I loved my team and friends and the thought of leaving them left this big, black, pit in my chest that ached. I don't want to leave them, but I had to now.

So I packed what I needed into a duffel bag, mostly just clothes and other personal items, and left a note to each member of my team and team RWBY. I'm not going to rewrite what I said in those letters because I honestly said a lot of embarrassing and personal things that I swore I would never speak or write again.

Then with my bag and Crocea Mors at my waist, I closed the door to JNPR's dorm for the last time. I wandered for a while, it was only four-thirty and I wanted to take in Beacon one last time. After revisiting my classrooms, I found myself standing at the statue in Beacon's courtyard; staring up at the man in the hooded scarf with his blade raised high, it was later now and the light of just risen moon reflected off the bronze.

"A beautiful sight, no?"

I jumped out of panic. I flailed for half a second awkwardly before turning toward the voice behind me, hands on my head for some odd reason with a blush on my cheeks. The man standing behind me a had a half smile, as though he was try his hardest not to laugh at my totally dignified response.

He was young, around my age now, and wore a well cut gray suit, white shirt and red tie. His dark brown hair was pushed back and his eyes were the same color as mine, he cocked his head and his smile didn't waver as he spoke, "You okay? I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"Y-yeah, sorry for freaking out," I fumbled before holding out my hand, "I'm Jaune."

"Alec," He stretched out and shook my hand, I remember being surprised at how callused his hands were, "So, what brings you to Beacon, Jaune?"

"Uh," I murmured before ducking my head, "I'm leaving actually."

"Ah, so being a Huntsman wasn't in the cards eh," Alec asked before staring up at the statue beside me, "Sounds like you've had an eighteen carat run of bad luck."

"You could say that, I guess." I said, trying to keep my anger and sadness out of my voice.

"Ozpin always did have a problem seeing potential that didn't fall into his plan."

"Wait, how do you kn-"

"I never formally introduced myself actually," Alec said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a business card and holding it out to me, "Alec Canus, owner of the Remnant Courier Company."

I took the card and quickly examined it, I had heard about the RCC and the Couriers. I had heard that they were couriers who are trained in various formed of armed and unarmed combat as well as stealth and diplomacy so they can deliver any and all packages with a 100% success rate.

That's what I had heard at least…

"What are you doing at Beacon?" I asked, he didn't look to have a package of any kind on him so I doubted he was working as a Courier at the moment.

"Personal business. When I heard Nicholas Arc's son was set to be expelled from Beacon, I had to come and see it for myself." Alec said, causing my blood to run cold.

"W-why?" I asked, unable to stop myself from stuttering as Alec reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll.

"Because I'm simply taking advantage Ozpin's mistake. I don't know if he didn't see your talent and potential or just ignored it, but it's there, Jaune."

I was stunned. Talent? Potential? I couldn't even begin to guess what "talent" or "potential" brought the owner of the RCC to me, I had just been expelled from Beacon after all; as far as I was concerned any talents I had clearly weren't worth much, "W-what are you talking about? I'm nothing special."

"You managed to forge transcripts to _Beacon_ , one of the best combat schools on Remnant, do you have any idea how serious their vetting process is," Alec asked, turning to me, "You managed to fool everyone for months with those fakes, that takes some serious forging skill as well as being a talented liar; two important qualities I look for in my Couriers."

It took a moment of silence before reality managed to catch up with me, "Are you...are you offering me a job?"

"No. I'm offering you an interview...kind of," Alec called cryptically as he began walking backwards, away from the statue we had been admiring, "There's a two month training period for Couriers, you survive, you're in."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, beginning to walk after the smiling man who was slowly fading into the darkness.

"Because I wanna see what happens," Alec said, "I mean, isn't this exciting? The wannabe hero is faced with the decision to enter the exciting but questionable gray as a transporter of any and all packages or re-enter boring obscurity as a farmer boy."

I stumbled to a stop as I heard a soft laugh in the darkness and one last word from Alec as he disappeared into the darkness, "Come by my office when you make up your mind, kid."

My duffel hung loose in my hand as I stared into the night, where my future boss disappeared like a freaking ghost. All these years and I still don't know how he did it. Kinda scary if you really think about it, eleven years later and I still don't know how he does it.

The next morning I stood in front of two story brick building with a large neon sign that read three words, _Remnant Security Company_.

Looking back on it now, I shouldn't of been surprised to see that Alec was standing in the doorway; smile on his face.

"Guessing you want a job."

I remember what I said next, I said it with conviction; conviction I never had when I was at Beacon, this was my last resort and if I failed...I don't even want to think about what my life would have become if I never said what I did next, "I don't want to be stuck in some settlement plowing the fields until I die, I want this."

"Let's get you on a Bullhead." Alec said before he began to walk into the office, forcing me to follow him into the foyer where a secretary (Her name is Clary by the way, she's a total sweetheart even back then when she was fifteen) sat behind

"A Bullhead? Why?" I asked following him through a door that lead to a small sea of cubicles, men and women of many ages, colors and races sat and appeared to be answering and talking into wired scrolls as well as typing on holo-computers. As I would later learn, they were filtering and filing deliveries. Pulling up dossiers on clients and checking credentials to make sure jobs were legit.

At first I was intimidated by the sight, by the noises and shouting. By the time I turned eighteen, I knew all of them by name and could tell you whatever there is to know about any of them. To be honest, there were only twenty-six of them and my fear was just my nerves and the incredible amount of noise.

"We gotta get you to The Facility somehow," Alec passed through a door and into a long hallway that had five different pathways, two on each side and one straight ahead with Alec Canus emblazoned onto a frost glass doorway, "I originally wanted an underground training facility, but our budget isn't _that_ amazing."

"Sooooo… The Facility is where i'll be trained?" I asked as we entered into what was obviously Alec's office. It was very...lived in...not at all messy. Not a total freaking mess that forced me to watch as Alec gave up his dignified strut and was forced to tiptoe over piles of books and boxes of files.

"Excuse the uh...mess, I'm knee deep in reorganizing our Atlas branch; that government is full of frigid sociopaths I swear," Alec groaned as he sat down in a high backed chair and gestured to a chair that was buried under books and boxes of files, "Feel free to toss those on the floor, I was done with that half anyway."

I grabbed a stack of books and carefully laid them down and set two boxes of files next to them before sitting in the chair. I now had a better look at the office and noticed that it had wall to wall and flooring to ceiling bookshelves that were empty, now covering the floors I imagined.

Alec tapped onto a device of some kind at the head of his desk and I watched as a holo-screen was projected up and a holo-keyboard was projected onto the flat of his desk, "The RCC has been given the ability to beta test new technologies before the Huntsmen implement them into their standard equipment."

"So you're the guinea pigs?"

Alec sent me a look, a look I would later learn meant "Watch your mouth", but he simply said, "We test the products to make sure they work."

I gulped as Alec reached over to a wired scroll and pressed a button before a dial tone rang and a deep voice chimed through the line, "Yes, sir?"

"Aster. I need you in my office, now; I got new blood for The Facility," Alec let go of the button and leaned back in his chair before loosening his tie a few notches, "Being the leader of an intercontinental courier service is hard work, kid. You gotta appreciate the calm when you can."

"Aster...that sounds suspiciously fake." Thank god I wasn't _totally_ dense.

"It's a nickname. You'll get one of your own at The Facility, they'll give you one fitting your personality, until then you'll just be call Initiate."

"What's wrong with my name?"

Alec opened his mouth and began to respond but a loud banging on the door cut the man off, "Come in, Ast."

I turned and almost swallowed my tongue as a towering man stepped through the door, his skin was the same color as cocoa and his muscles were bulging against his dark blue jumpsuit, he also had what appeared to be a massive scar across his neck and probably his chest. Did mention that he had to duck under the door frame to step into the room? No? Well he did, and it effectively terrified me.

"Aster. New Initiate. New Initiate. Aster," Alec said, causing Aster to nod toward me. Out of fear more than courteousness, I nodded back before Alec continued, "Aster is our best pilot and our Explosives Proctor at The Facility, he'll be flying you and one other initiate we had waiting here to The Facility."

"Bullhead is ready to go…" Aster said, the quietness of his deep voice surprising me.

"Well, Jaune," Alec stood from his chair and danced around the mess that was his office to my side, "If I see you in two months, I'll know I made the right choice; if not, I wasted my Friday night."

I stood and heaved my duffel bag over my shoulder and was pulled out of Alec's office before I could respond or even say thank you. Aster stood in front of me and began leading me into one of the hallway's pathways that actually turned out to be a stairwell. After walking up two flights of stairs, we exited a metal door and began walking across the roof towards a black Bullhead with an RCC logo on the side.

As I sat down, I finally let everything catch up with me. I remember feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed that just yesterday I was a Huntsman In Training and now I was sitting on a Bullhead, going god knows where, under the guidance of a company and people I knew nothing about.

I was pulled from my chaotic thoughts by the sound of boots thumping against the metal of the Bullhead's floor. I could only assume it was the other initiate I heard about from Alec. He was fairly normal looking, dressed in jeans and a hoodie like myself, (minus the armor) with tousled brown hair and green eyes. He sat across from me, setting a small satchel onto a seat beside him.

"H-hi," I stuttered, I was nervous and Aster appeared to be outside the Bullhead and off to the side, talking to a blonde man in a suit, "I'm J-"

"Gerald said we shouldn't use our real names." The boy said suddenly and rather coldly to be honest. I remember it being very surprising, so far everyone had been rather friendly; Alec was...Alec, Aster had been quiet but he hadn't done or said anything weird.

"Who," I asked before the boy nodded back and I remembered seeing the blonde man, "Well, what do I call you?"

"Don't know. Whatever you want I guess." He crossed his arms and leaned back into the seat.

"Tom."

"Do I look like a Tom?" He asked, the cold disappearing from his voice ever so slightly.

"You could be, _I_ don't know." I said, a subtle smirk on my lips.

"You don't know, I don't know, we don't know much of anything…" His eyes drifted downward, "What brings you to the RCC?"

"I…" I paused, what did bring me here? Hate of Beacon? Alec taking advantage of me in a bad situation? Boredom?

"... I hate myself."

"O...kay," He said, "That doesn't exactly tell me much."

"I am a failure. I was given...an incredible opportunity and I ruined it, I'm here because I want a new start. I want redemption."

"Well, that's just cheery," He remarked, "I guess you could say I'm in a similar position, though my new start is a lot more forced."

It was at this moment that Aster stepped through the bay door and hit the large red button on wall, closing the door before heading up into the cockpit. Soon the engines whirred to life and I grabbed at the seats beside me as the Bullhead began streaking across the sky…

/~/

This is...just the beginning. That was my first time meeting Joker, a fitting name I know. His callsign was always a joke to us all, I was terrified that my callsign would be the same deal; Thankfully it wasn't and I got lucky.

The Facility was where I truly became a Courier. Where I learned mostly everything I know. Where I met some of my closest friends. Where I almost died while learned to live, ironic yeah?

Dang, she's home. If she sees this she'll never let me live it down.

/~/

 **AN: Hey all, it's Logic with a new story;** _ **Courier**_ **. I kinda just wanted to write a story where I wasn't held down by canon and this was just kinda birthed. I also enjoyed writing it as though an older Jaune was writing it in his journal, it was definitely a fun experience. Speaking of fun, this is an AU where Cinder and Co. don't exist. Here's Le Plan® for the chapters so far...**

 **1) Intro**

 **2) The Facility**

 **3) Main Storyline**

 **Hope you enjoy this story guys, I'm super pumped for it, keep it real.**


	2. Chapter 2

_XX62_

Okay...she's gone. I swear she knows I'm doing this, if she finds out that I actually took her advice she'll never let me live it down. I'm serious, constant teasing, she still acts seventeen. Gez, why do I put up with that woman...oh right.

I took a look at my previous entry, it's been a few days seeing as how I didn't want to bring this to Vaccuo and risk losing it while I was working. It was a simple delivery thankfully, nothing when awry except the fact I had to handle a Deathstalker.

Nothing I didn't learn to handle at The Facility...like that segway? No? Okay…

* * *

 _XX51_

The flight was long, I didn't have an exact location but I had a vague idea of where we were. Southern Vale, specifically the Wild Forest; a forest near the southeastern coast of Vale. There were no other settlements for miles upon miles, so The Facility stood alone within the forest; constantly battered by Grimm and bandits, but it still stood.

I looked out the Bullhead's window as we approached, it looked like a military compound, tall concrete looking walls and barbed wire defended it from outside forces and various types of buildings; I saw one that looked like a single story townhouse next to a multi-story brick factory and another building that looked like a big apartment building along with a few other brick factories.

"I thought there would be...more." The boy across from me said, looking out his own window.

"Yeah, it does seem kinda cramped." I admitted as the Bullhead began to slow and descend toward a landing platform on top of the largest brick factory building, little did I know that the building was actually lovingly called The Factory.

"We're in the middle of the Grimmlands, we wanted to make ourselves as small of a target as possible." We were surprised to hear Aster's quiet voice, he'd been silent the entire flight.

"Making a training facility in the middle of the Wilds doesn't seem like that hot of an idea to be honest." I turned the dark haired boy across from me, he was gazing at the compound with an air of anxiety.

"When the founders built The Facility, they didn't want their trade secrets being stolen by rivals or even kingdoms," Aster said before a dull thud rang out as the Bullhead landed, "Off."

"So...we just get out?" I asked as the Bullhead powered down, standing and shouldering my bag and making sure Crocea Mors was attached to my belt as the bay door of the Bullhead opened.

"Guess so…" Not-Tom muttered, standing and slinging his pack over his shoulders; this is the first time I realized that he was shorter than me, probably standing _a little_ taller than Yang or Blake height wise.

We exited the Bullhead and we're greeted with the sight of a girl who couldn't have been two or three years older than me at that time with dark brown hair in a braid over her shoulder and amber eyes that locked onto us as a smile broke out on her face as she almost skipped towards us, "Hey, guys. You the new Initiates?"

The boy beside me seemed very off put by the girl's cheer so I decided to respond for the both of us, "Yeah, I'm-"

"No names. Sorry, it's protocol with us. Until you get your shiny new callsign we'll just have to call you guys Initiate," She interrupted before releasing a small giggle, "Sorry, I didn't even tell you my callsign. I'm Recorder."

"Recorder? And I thought Aster was bad…"

Recorder looked at the boy beside me and smiled, "I can see you're just a ray of sunshine."

"Oh, definitely. It's all ice cream and gumdrops over here." The sarcasm was thick in his voice.

"Ooh, can I have some?"

He wasn't prepared for the response, blushing softly before facepalming and mumbling something. Recorder laughed softly before turning and motioning for us to follow her, "Come on, i'll show you the Factory then the barracks."

We followed Recorder down a stairwell and into the Factory. Despite the name, the Factory was actually a series of training rooms. Each one was different and unique, each pertaining to a certain subject for the Couriers to learn. I remember walking down the hallways and being overwhelmed as I read the nameplates above each classroom and listened to Recorder explain each class.

 _Marksmanship_

 _Armed Combat_

 _Unarmed Combat_

 _Explosives_

 _Stealth_

 _Survival_

 _Health and Fitness_

 _Courier Rules of Engagement_

"Eight classes huh?" Not-Tom asked as we walked down the brick and worn wood hallways, it had a certain charm to it to be honest.

"Yep! Mr. Canus just streamlines the program so we're working at maximum efficiency now." Recorder cheered happily, causing me to smile awkwardly. As I would later learn, she was _always_ this happy… _Always._

"So what do you do here, Recorder?" I asked, wanting to steer the two of them away from an argument that I had a feeling would break out if I didn't intervene.

"Well, ironically enough," She rubbed the back of her neck as she suppressed a blush, "I record Initiate's progress and report directly to Mr. Canus, it was a position I was given after I got hurt on a delivery a few months back. I'm almost healed though so I should be back to delivering packages soon."

"So how'd you get the callsign 'Recorder' then?" Not-Tom asked.

"Well...when I was going through training I would constantly have to write everything down because I couldn't remember anything and 'Writer' didn't have the same ring to it as 'Recorder'," She smiled as we now stood in front of the main entrance to the Factory, "So I'm Recorder and that's been your tour of the Factory, come on; let's go see the rest of The Facility."

Apparently, the apartment building I had seen from above was housing for the staff and the small group of mercenaries that the RCC hired to supplement defense for The Facility. The single story townhouse I had seen was "the barracks", though that was a loose term seeming as how it could house ten, had a full bathroom as well as a common room and kitchen. The other brick factories I'd seen were testing facilities, where they tested and created new weapons, technologies, armors and God knows what else. I definitely didn't at the time.

"Come on, the other Initiates got here a few hours ago." Recorder lead us into the barracks where we found a pair of teens my age arguing in the middle of the common room

"I can't believe you forgot!"

"Why would I remember _your_ stuff?!"

"We're brother and sister! Shouldn't you be helping me!?"

"Remembering your suitcase isn't my problem, Bian-! Sis!"

A short girl with long white hair tied up in a ponytail and emerald eyes stared up at a taller boy with short but wild, pale, red hair with matching emerald eyes.

"Aarghghrhhaha! You're so unreasonable!"

" _I'm_ unreasonable! You're the one pissed off at _me_ for not remembering _your_ suitcase."

"Are we interrupting something?" I asked, taking advantage of a short silence.

" **Yes!** " The siblings shouted in unison before turning back and arguing with each other once again.

"Great. Siblings who are at each other's throats." Not-Tom muttered sourly.

"I swear, my sister is usually more reasonable than this." The brother said before turning back to his sister.

"I can't believe you'd say-"

"Shut up!" Recorder shouted, narrowing her eyes at the pair, silencing the arguing siblings who looked at her as though she had just grown a second and third head, "Now, Frost and Coal, meet our new Initiates.

"Coal," Not-Tom pointed to the brother before pointing to the girl, "Frost."

"Switch em," The boy said before reaching out, "Frost."

I shook his hand, "Ja-...I don't have a callsign yet."

"They're supposed to be ironic I've been told," Frost said before shaking Not-Tom's hand, "Hopefully your guy's aren't so far off."

"How's your's far off?" I asked as Frost padded back, a carefree smile on his face as his sister confined to glare at him.

"Well, my name is 'Frost' but I can do this," A small green and red flame flickered to life between his fingers before he closed his hand dramatically, snuffing the flame, "My semblance."

"I named you 'Frost' because you're a hot-head, it's a joke." Recorder pouted.

"Yeah, cause you're such a joker." Not-Tom deadpanned.

"Why are you so grumpy?" Recorder asked, hands on her as she huffed at my grumpy brother in arms.

"The exact opposite of a joker." Coal mused quietly, almost to herself. _Almost._

Recorder gasped, a huge smile on her face as Not-Tom's fell, "No. Nonononono, that is _**not**_ my callsign."

"Frost-"

"Noooo."

"-Coal-"

"Noooo. Recorder, stop."

"Meet, Joker." Recorder gestured to the newly named boy with a smirk.

"You did that out of spite." Joker accused, pointing at the girl with his usually stoic face in a snarl.

"Spite? No. The want to get you to show some emotion besides...boredom and sarcastic angst? Yes." Recorder said with a certain kind of smile, a smile that told everyone that she held all the cards.

"I-... You-... How-..." Joker trailed off before covering his face and groaning into both hands.

"Frustration and embarrassment are new ones." I admitted, smirking ever so subtly at the fellow Initiate.

"Shut it, Blondie." Joker spat before tossing his bag onto the big wooden round table in the center of the common room. At the moment the table was empty and bare but as the weeks passed it would become cluttered with half eaten sandwiches from Coal's forgetful tendencies, opened textbooks and discarded coffee cups from late night study sessions.

It's where we really became a family of sorts, I learned that spending eighteen hours or more a day with someone for two months tends to bring you become very close to them.

"Well that's not a good callsign, this is why I'm in charge of naming you guys and you're just an Initiate." Recorder said before relaxing in one of the high back leather chairs wheelie chairs and spinning around.

"Is...there a room where I can put this?" I asked, shrugging my bag and gesturing to Crocea Mors on my waist as Joker and Recorder continued their back and forth dance.

"Bunk room. Down the hall, second right." Coal said quietly and coolly, totally unlike her previous altercation with her brother. In the bunk room I found five double bunks in a neat row along the back wall, a black duffel bag sat on one of the bottom bunks and a white jacket sat on the bottom bunk beside it; Frost and Coal had already staked their claim.

I tossed my bag onto the bunk above Frost's, I had always wanted the top bunk las a kid, and headed back to the common room to see that everyone had settled down. Coal had settled down into one of the chairs and typed away on her scroll while Frost settled into the beat-up couch and Joker appeared to be in the kitchen and cooking.

"Where's Recorder?" I asked as I entered the room.

"Came and gone, said she'd be back in the morning to get us for our classes." Coal murmured.

"Guess this is the part where we get to know each other." Joker said, walking into the common room. Frost's head perked up and he broke out into a wide grin before hopping up and beginning toward where I had just left.

"I have just the thing for this occasion."

"Is he always like this?" Joker asked after Frost had disappeared, leaning against the table and looking down at Coal.

"Hotheaded, impulsive, loud? Absolutely."

"I heard that you frigid bitch," Frost called from down the hall before walking back into the common room, brandishing a bottle of whiskey, "In my professional experience people tend to be more loose lipped when drinking, so we shall drink."

"Ru-...Frost! No." Coal said, standing suddenly and attempting to snatch the bottle from her much taller sibling.

"Sit down, shorty," Frost said, slapping his sister's hands away before tossing the bottle to Joker who fumbled with it for a few seconds before managing to hold the bottle, "Blondie, get some glasses."

It took a second for me to realize that Frost had been talking to me. I went into the kitchen and somehow opened every other cupboard before finding the glasses, because life is weird, and brought the four glasses to the table.

"I'm not into whiskey." Joker deadpanned before setting the bottle down and sprawling out on the couch.

"You're into it tonight, mother fucker." Frost grabbed Joker by his wrist and pulled him off the couch and over to the table, Joker protesting the entire time.

"Let me go you crazy bastard!"

"Not happening, J." Frost grunted as he lifted Joker into one of the tall chairs and pushed it all the way in, securing Joker's spot at the table.

I sat down, I wasn't exactly in a position to refuse and I had the feeling that if I did Frost wouldn't of had any of my shit; plus, I was surrounded by unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar place...I wanted them to like me, or at least not hate me.

I didn't know that these three people would become part of the what was basically my second family.

Needless to say, we all drank. A lot. Too much. Way too much. Like, I don't remember ninety-nine percent of that night...I just remember that it was where they gave me my callsign, my unfitting name.

It was definitely a weird morning, waking up to the sound of Recorder asking why we were passed out on the table with a splitting headache, I wouldn't learn for a while why exactly they started calling me Rogue.

Weeks passed and I grew, I grew into someone else. I would be lying if I said Joker, Frost and, Coal didn't influence me because they did. I'm going to skip most of my time at the Facility, mostly for legal reasons seeing as how I'm not allowed to divulge the RCC's training methods.

I will talk about the last week though, or at least some of it. It started in an odd way, I was called to The Depot; it's a place where the RCC developed and tested potential technology, both their own and outsider's, and weapons.

Weapons being the reason I was requested at the Depot.

I had just finished my final unarmed test, passed with an eighty-one, and was relaxing in the barracks with Coal; I'd gotten insanely close with her and the guys over the past several weeks, maybe a little _too_ comfortable.

"Hey, Rogue." I looked up from my scroll towards the corner of the common room where Coal stood, examining her back in the mirror.

"Hm?"

"Do you think my ass is small?"

I nearly choked on my tongue and Coal on the other hand was, as usual, deadpan and stoic. Frost had made it very clear to me and Joker that Coal was off limits and this wasn't the first time she said these kinda things to just get under her brother's skin, but he wasn't here so I guessed she was asking a genuine question.

"A cupcake is still cake."

Coal turned and quirked an eyebrow at me before smirking ever so slightly, a smirk exactly like Frost's, "That was strangely inspirational, Rogue. If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were hitting on me."

"I would, but I enjoy living and Frost doesn't like anyone messing with his baby sister." I huffed as Coal laid on the other side of the couch, letting her feet rest on my chest and her head rest on one of my sneakers.

"I'm twelve minutes older than Ru-... Frost."

"Still not used to it?"

"Not quite, he isn't either unfortunately," Coal sighed softly before smiling at me, "You're different, Rogue."

"Am I?"

"Yeah, you're less...awkward. Less...wimpy."

"Oh, so now you're insulting me?" I kicked her head softly.

"If I was insulting you, that wouldn't be a question," Coal pushed her foot up into my chin while laughing before her laugh died off, "Do you… think I've changed?"

"Oh absolutely," I said, pushing her foot away, "You've gone from 'cold heartless bitch' to 'cold heartless bitchy sister whose cool sometimes'."

"Keep talking like that and I might start thinking that you're actually into me," Coal jabbed before gasping and reaching into her pocket, retrieving her scroll and flipping through it, "Speaking of who's into who, my brother tell you about Recorder and Joker?"

"What about em?"

"You're gonna love this, it'll make great ammunition against Joker." Coal tapped away on her scroll for a few seconds before showing me a picture that was obviously taken without the subjects' consent, the subjects being Joker and Recorder mid steamy kiss.

"Woah!" I exclaimed, it was surprising; seeing two people I now considered some of my closest friends sticking their tongues down each others throats.

"I know right! It gets better." Coal swiped and swiped and swiped and swiped, with each swipe more clothes came off and well...it was obvious Frost ditched before seeing anything he didn't want to see.

I pulled away and sat on the couch normally while looking at the scroll as Coal readjusted herself, "I would have never guess that they were-"

"Who were what?"

" **OH MY GOD**!" Me and Coal screamed in fear and surprise, we recognized the voice instantly. Recorder.

Now let me take a moment to describe my fear. Now I know what you're thinking, why am I, the handsome and brave Jaune Arc, scared of a five foot five girl who is also hailed as the sweetest things since sugar?

Well, how do I say this?

…

Recorder is fucking terrifying.

I had seen her lay out at least a dozen fully qualified Courier who were all roughly the size of a Bullhead. She's damn near psychopathic in a fight, not to mention scary fast, scary strong and, deadly with her bow; Nyx. So you can only imagine my fear when I realized she had walked in on what was basically me and Coal talking shit.

But Coal...that little...she had the perfect out. Coal turned to Recorder and smiled sweetly, "Jaune was showing me pictures of you and Joker during an...intimate moment."

Recorder marched forward and I felt my heart drop into my stomach, her sweet smile had disappeared and was replaced with a neutral expression, she was the current epitome of fear in my mind. I got off lucky though, Recorder simply took the scroll and snapped it in half.

The look on Coal's face warmed my heart, it had been her scroll after all; I had just been holding it. Recorder discarded the scroll to the floor behind her before glaring at Coal, "Now that that's done, tell me who _actually_ took pictures of me and Gi- Joker."

So she knew his real name, this is when I realized how close they'd really gotten.

"I just told you, it was R-"

"Rogue is too nice to do something like this, so it was either you or your brother and we all know I can break both of you. So-"

"Frost. He was having a late study session with Proctor Felix and caught you two stumbling into your place in the staff apartments there." Coal rattled quickly, the tiny little rat; I'm not one to judge though, I probably would have snitched just as quick.

"Thank you," Recorder murmured before her smile reappeared out of nowhere and was directed towards me, "Wrench wants you in the Depot, something about steel-dust plate meshing techniques and a bulldog."

I was gone like a bat out of hell, the full wrath of Recorder was not something I was eager to see and I had a feeling Coal was about to feel it in all it's hateful glory.

When I'd walked through the large warehouse doors, metallic scraping and bang filled my ears. Workbenches and testing stations were taking up every spare inch of the Depot and technicians looked to be working tirelessly to the beat of a heavy bassline that steamed from some insanely large speakers in the back of the warehouse. The voices of technicians filtered the music out in a way though as I walked through the strange building.

" **Is the caliber large enough on this thing?!** "

" **Hell if I know! Hey, Twitch, how's that new mask coming?! Click needs it yesterday!** "

" **I delegated to Rocket!** "

" **Rocket is slow as fuck! It's why we call him Rocket!** "

" **Did you put batteries in the det switch?** "

" **Uhhh… Shit…** "

" **Dammit, Ash… Hold up, I got some at my bench."**

" **Thanks, Ronin. 'Preciate it!"**

" **You're all sociopaths!"**

" **So fucking what?! Get to work!"**

"It's euphoric, isn't it?" My wandering eyes returned front and center and came face to mask with a technician wearing torn up jeans and a sleeveless black hoodie with a white shirt underneath. I couldn't see his face, a black mask with small white scribbles covering the metal covered it.

"I guess you can say that." I said simply before remembering my reason for coming to the Depot in the first place, "Sorry man, do you know where Wrench is?"

"You're looking at him, Kid," Wrench exclaimed, cocking his head. "You're Rogue, I could tell from the fish outta water look and well, that beauty," He pointed to Crocea Mors hanging on my waist before turning and beginning to walk away, "Let's walk and talk."

"Know why you're here?"

"I don't, Recorder said it was something about metal-dust plate meshing techniques and a bulldog."

"Yeah, Wrench Junior got outta my place and I'm gonna need you to find him. Cool?" I stuttered to a stop as we walked into what was clearly Wrench's work area, the work bench and surrounding area was filled with junk and broken pieces of machinery as well as a broken Atlantian Knight droid.

"You can't be serious." I muttered before Wrench reached under his workbench and pulled out a sledgehammer and brought it down on something on the workbench that Wrench was blocking with his body.

"You're right, I'm not," Wrench tossed something over his shoulder and I watched as the broken shell of a toaster. "I fucking hate that thing but my sister gave it to me for my birthday," Wrench spun and leaned against his workbench, "They're all evolving to replace us on the food chain ya know."

"Who?"

"Animals man."

"Even puppies?" You can understand my scepticism.

" _Especially_ puppies."

"I'm not trying to get us back on track or anything buuuut, can we get back on track?" I asked, seemingly shaking the masked tech out of his puppy fueled rant.

"Yeah, R. So…" Wrench clasped his hands before pointing both index fingers to Crocea Mors, "I'm gonna need that beauty."

"What," I asked, subconsciously grabbing my weapon, "Why?"

"Let's cut the shit, Jaune," I hadn't heard my actual name in almost two months, I was so stunned by the sound of my own name that I didn't even stop to consider _how_ he knew my name; thankfully he answered that almost immediately, "That weapon is kinda sorta famous as fuck, it's even talked in some history classes and everyone who's taken that class will know that it's attached to the Arc Family."

"So?"

Wrench groaned before rubbing his mask, which I imagined offered zero relief to the massive migraine I was probably giving him, "And what if one of those people sees a Courier using it? And what they want you package? And what if they kidnap and torture your family to get it? And what if they come after me to get it? We're buddies! You don't want to be the reason I'm found in a gutter right?"

"I...no, I don't want anyone to be hurt because of my job."

"Exactly! So I'm gonna make it better... _but_ also different."

"Like, making it so I can combine my sword and shield into a bigger sword?"

"That's stupid and you're stupid for suggesting that," Wrench was suddenly in front of me and unhooked Crocea Mors from my belt before I could even protest, "Oh, why must goodbyes be so sweet and sorrowful?"

"What are you going to do to Crocea Mors?"

"Change it's appearance, make it better, maybe add a gun. Depends on how high I am when I get around to it." This did not boost my confidence, I wasn't exactly against improvements to Crocea More though. It was pretty old school and with everything is had learned at The Facility, it would seem like kind of a waste just to limit myself to what could be considered an obsolete weapon.

"Is...there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked cautiously, he'd already snagged my weapon and I wasn't exactly sure what else I had to give him.

I, for the most part, lacked common sense.

"Yeah, we gotta talk about your mask," Wrench tapped his own mask for emphasis, "They're standard issue but you can make it look as pretty or as basic as your heart desires."

Wrench picked up a bare metal mask not to different from his own, a simple mask with interlocking plates that protected and fit tightly around the neck, "So any special requests?"

* * *

Dammit she moves fast, who old takes two hours to grocery shop? Gotta hide this before she comes in…

* * *

 **AN: This chapter isn't an info dump kinda...shut up. (By the way, that was sarcasm. I don't want there to be a misunderstanding) Welcome back to Courier...how are you? I'm probably gonna disappear for a bit, I'm gonna be staying at a friends place for a week or two and also just got a new job so I won't have a lot of time to write but I'll be back once things slow back down.**


	3. Chapter 3

I had just wrapped up a job in Vaccuo before I got wrapped up in a whole lot of crazy. Two years had passed since I left, two years as a Courier, a lot had changed to say the least. Joker, Frost, Coal and I had all decided to head to the Vale office together, making that our permanent station where we picked up the bulk of our jobs; Alec had been excited to see that I had survived and that his office would be full again. We also ended up pooling together our graduation bonus' and began renting a large loft apartment downtown, Couriers are gone on jobs anywhere from a day to a few weeks depending on the job and this way someone would always be able to watch the place.

Plus, we were kinda stuck with each other. We had all spent too much together to feel complete without the others, that's what happens when you spend so much time together I guess.

I would know.

When I left Beacon, a hole replaced my heart, I felt awful and incomplete. My new friends replaced Beacon in a way, but not totally. I often wondered what happened after I left, were they sad? Happy? Angry? Were they all still there? Were they all still alive?

I was hanging in the lounge at the RCC office, laying down with a leg flung over the back of the couch as I lazily examined the holo-board that was projected onto the wall in front of the couch. Ten jobs a page, and over fourteen pages of jobs. The clients? Anyone with lien who doesn't conflict with the RCC's interests.

"Anything new pop up?" Recorder leaned forward against the back of the couch and looked down at me, she had changed too much, she was a little taller and had filled out a bit more but she was still good ole Recorder.

"Not for an hour or two, last one was some retrieval mission to Vaccuo." I muttered, I was waiting for my payment to be processed to my account so I could go grab some food that wasn't covered in sand and dust.

"How was Vaccuo by the way?" Recorder smirked at me, she knew I hated the stupidly hot heat and deserts of Vaccuo.

"Shut up. It was two thousand lien job and almost filled out my quota for the month." Ah, the quota system. I'll make this fast.

Couriers have ranks; Bronze, Silver and, Gold. Every job has a numbered rank of danger and Different ranks of Couriers are allowed to take more dangerous deliveries. I was a Silver so I had the authorization to take on fifties or lower, but I also had a higher quota of jobs I was supposed to do a month. A Silver's quota is two hundred, so I could do twenty rank ten jobs or four rank fifty jobs or any other of combinations as long as by the end of the month I've done enough jobs that the combined danger rank is two hundred.

"Where you at?" Recorder asked, vaulting the couch and landing on my calves before relaxing into the soft leather of the couch.

"One eighty. You?" The Vaccuo job was a forty, it was just a simple walk across the desert to an airstrip to deliver some Atlantian scientists findings to a pilot who would take it back to their lab in Atlas. Little did I know that the exact reason they hired me was that Death Stalkers were extremely active around the camp where the scientists were doing their research.

Needless to say, I ran away through the desert as fast as my legs could manage. Another disadvantage of the desert, zero footing in the shifting sands.

"One fifty, I need to pick it up a bi-." Recorder propped her feet up on the coffee table as she spoke before shouting echoed up the staircase that lead into the lounge.

"I can't believe you didn't cover me!"

"Why is it my fault that you ran into a storm of bullets?!"

"Oh look, it's my charming boyfriend and the other one." Recorder mumbled, temporarily drawing my attention away from the arguing as it entered the lounge.

Joker hadn't changed too much, he'd grew an inch (maybe) and had gotten a scar along the right part of his jawline but besides that he was same old Joker. Frost had changed a bit though, he now has full tattoo sleeves and had cut his red mane into an undercut that he wore swept back. He'd also leaned up a bit more than all of us, something we all thought was impossible, he now looked a lot less lanky because of it though.

"You should have covered me." Joker growled.

"Bit hard to do when I already have someone on top of me, trying to bash my head in with a rock!" I wish I could say this type of argument was rare occurrence but I'd be lying.

Deliveries usually went awry, it was just part of the job. Couriers need excel in "tactical improvisation" more than anything else.

Translation. Be prepared to make shit up as you go.

"Can you guys stop arguing," I asked over their yelling, "You got the delivery done, that's all that matters."

"I almost died!" Joker protested as Frost settled into a plush armchair and sighed deeply as he linked his hands behind his head.

"So? That's what happens when you carry things that people are willing to kill for. They try and kill you." I said a little too nonchalantly, the job had corrupted me in a way. Haha…

"I care about you almost dying babe." Recorder said, patting Joker's back with a smile. He'd for some reason decided that sitting on the armrest of the broke couch was a good idea.

"Don't baby him. He's a strong independent ma-." Frost burst out laughing, unable to finish his jab.

Recorder on the other hand proceeded to take the first thing in her reach that could be thrown, my sneaker, pull it from its allotted place, my foot, and throw it at Frost; who did a marvelous job catching it with his nose.

"Thanks, Rec." Joker smiled at his better half who smiled back before they shared a quick kiss.

I on the other hand was so busy gagging that I didn't even worry about my poor sneaker.

With Frost's endless stream of girlfriends and the Courier power couple that is Recorder and Joker constantly in my life, I'd become very anti-PDA over the past two years. I hadn't been in any relationships since I'd left Beacon, the whole crashing and burning that was my attempts to get Weiss under my arm had changed my perspective a bit. I was also fairly certain that my dad's speeches on confidence were a nice lie he'd told me to get him off his back. Or maybe he'd wanted me to learn through failure? Even now I don't know.

"Can I have my sneaker back?" I deadpanned, tilting my head over the armrest my head was on and look back at Frost who was clutching his nose with a rag he'd pulled out of freaking nowhere.

"I feel very disrespected at the moment." Frost stated, standing in front of the couch with his arms crossed.

"Good, you are very disrespected. Now about my sneaker…"

"I feel that my contributions to our merry little crew are looked over by you all."

"Does he realize that his sister should be here for a grandiose speech about our crew?" Joker asked before being hushed by Recorder.

"This'll be good, don't ruin his flow."

"I believe...that I've saved each of your lives enough to earn some of your respect." Frost stated simply, he was right actually. But I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Dude, how do you expect us to respect you when Joker can beat your ass." I said, totally expecting what Frost said next.

"Hey, I go easy on Joker," Frost joked, "Recorder will tear me to pieces if I singe a hair on his head and don't you act like it's not true." Frost shot back.

"He's right, I am pretty amazing." Recorder smirked as she crossed her legs and checked her nails in an un-Recorder-like way.

"You don't actually go easy on me though, do you?"

"Anyway…"

"You don't actually go easy on me though, do you?"

"Dammit, Joker," Frost ran a hand through his mane, "You made me forget my speech, I spent a week on it and everything."

"Wonder what that says about your work ethic." I mused, sarcasm thick in my voice.

"Work… Work… Oh," Frost exclaimed before digging out his scroll and swiping on it frantically, "Rogue, I caught a job you might be interested in."

"Why's that?" I managed to wriggle my legs out from under Recorder and sit like a normal person, albeit a little tilted due to my lack of a right shoe.

"The package's final destination is Beacon."

I think this is the part where I tell you about how I actually got my callsign. It was all because of one little lie I told in my first drunken stupor. One little lie that everyone easily saw through.

"I ran away from Beacon."

They saw through that lie like glass and the longer they knew me the more certain of it they were. I'm loyal to a fault, I wouldn't abandon Beacon. Rogue is, as usual for Courier callsigns, a joke. An ironic joke.

"I'm not sure…"

"Come onnnnn. What's the harm in sneaking a peek at the ole stomping grounds, you can wear your mask and hood the whole time and sport your callsign as usual," Frost was starting to sound like a used car salesmen, "You can prove to all those pretentious dicks that you don't need their fancy school to be a bad ass mother fucker."

"... You realize we're basically bad ass mailmen right?"

"Yes."

"So what exactly do I have to gloat about?"

"Monty almighty…" Frost rubbed his temple, "What's your score?!" Frost exclaimed suddenly.

"One eighty. Why?"

"This is a twenty, you'll finish up your month and be able to spend the rest of the month relaxing."

"Why are you pushing this so hard?" Recorder asked, narrowing her eyes at the redhead before us.

"Because I want Rogue to stuck it to those assholes who kicked him out…" Frost trailed off suddenly, "Plus I told Alec I'd do it and I actually have a date tonight sooo…"

"So you're gonna saddle me with your job, just so you can go get some ass?"

"Well when you put it that way you make me seem like the asshole."

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, he wasn't gonna let me get away so I simply accepted my fate, "Send me the job and I'll get it done."

"Thank you, Rogue! You're a lifesaver my man!"

"Frost, one thing before I collect my bonus and go do your job…"

"Sup?" Frost cocked his head.

"Get me my damn shoe."

My mission began with a Bullhead ride to Patch, a small island off Vale's coast. I'd heard of the island from somewhere but for the life of me I couldn't remember.

I had settled into my seat, mask on, good up, and Crocea Mors on the seat beside me; ready for a fight. Wrench hadn't changed it too much; thank god. It was definitely a sleeker design, Wrench had streamlined the weapon as a whole and (to his word) added a ring under the hilt that, when cranked, shifted the combined sword and sheath into a lever action rifle. He'd gotten rid of the shield function entirely, not that I'm complaining or anything. It wouldn't have exactly meshed with my new fighting style anyway, I'd become someone who believed that the best defense is a perfect offense.

As I looked out the window, I could hear startled gasps of people passing by my section, just looking for a seat, to find a man in a metal mask. A mask that was painted yellow with black geometric designs covering the rest of it. My weapon and mask weren't the only new thing about me, I'd updated my style...kinda. I wore the same blue jeans and sneaker but now wore a white long sleeve hoodie, usually with the sleeves pushed up, under a black short-sleeved jacket. I'd also started wore a canvas backpack while working, which I was at the moment. As far as I knew, I wouldn't need any of my camping gear or anything else I kept in the bag for this mission but I was just being prepared.

"Hey mister."

Don't ask why I remember this conversation, it just stuck with me.

I turned to look over and saw a young boy, no older than five, standing in the aisle way looking at me, "Yes?"

The boy was surprised to hear my voice sound so distorted my the mask, a built in feature Wrench had recently added.

The little boy looked at Crocea Mors and asked a question I frankly wasn't surprised of hearing, "Are you a Huntsman?"

"Nope." I answered, a smile under my mask.

"Well what are you then?"

"I'm...the mailman."

I don't know what's funnier, the look of utter amazement on his face before he skittered away or the gasp I heard when I heard him tell his mother he wanted to be a mailman when he grew up.

Gotta appreciate the little joys.

Patch was a nice island, very rural though; it actually reminded me of the area around the Facility...but less Grimm filled. I walked dirt roads for hours attempting to find the right road where the job description said the address was on, my scroll connection was garbage at the time. I finally managed to find the road and at the end I found a rather beautiful log house.

But you see, it was the names on the mailbox that really got my attention.

Xiao Long. Rose.

I suddenly remembered where I'd heard Patch before, it was where Yang and Ruby were from. And now I was at their childhood home. Probably about to talk to one of their parents seeing as how class at Beacon was in session.

I swallowed audibly. Why was I nervous? I'd never met Ruby and Yang's parents or anything, it wasn't like they had the potential to recognize me. I cleared my throat and marched forward, chest out and shoulders back...I just had to act as I usually did with clients. Professional and aloof.

I knocked on the wooden door of the house, "Courier service!"

"One minute!" I heard back before hearing clattering behind the door. It was a man's voice, so I knew it was their father who I would be talking to. At least I wasn't dating one of his daughters then it'd be really awkward.

Haha…

As soon as he opened the door, I knew where Yang got her hair and eyes from but I didn't see a hint of anything similar to Ruby. Taiyang Xiao Long was a older man, you could see it in his eyes mostly; a dull blueish-purple. I don't know if it was how faded his blonde hair was or just how rustic he dressed but I got the feeling that he'd spent a lot of time out here.

"Not exactly what I expected a Courier to look like but I guess I shouldn't complain."

First thing he said to me was a pseudo-insult…

I shrugged, what else could I do? I couldn't tell him off, he was a client...so I had to swallow my pride and simply shrug. Frost would never let me live it down.

"Oh, sorry come in." Taiyang stepped out of the way and gestured into the house

"What's the package?" I asked, entering the house. It was nice enough, not totally upper-class but not broke as a joke like my family seemed to be.

Don't get me wrong, my family wasn't pour pour but sometimes sacrifices had to be made; when you have eight kids and only two real providers for the family, sometimes getting that extra toy for your birthday isn't an option.

"Just an envelope...I'm sorry, but I don't even know your name." Taiyang said, the door shutting behind me as he walked passed me.

"Rogue."

"Did your parents hate you or something?"

I chewed into my lip under my mask, he had to be trying to get under my skin, "It's a callsign, my birth name isn't Rogue."

"I thought so. So why'd you become a Courier, from what I've heard it's a tough job." Taiyang asked, leading me into the kitchen.

"I'm not exactly into small talk, Sir," I leaned against the kitchen counter as Taiyang poured what looked to be coffee into two mugs, "I want to start the job."

"Now hold on, hold on," Taiyang slid one of the mugs toward me, "I'm about to give you something very important, I think I should get to know you a bit before I hand over something so important."

You know the saying "the customer is always right"? I really hate that saying.

"...What do you want to know?" Great thing about a mask, you can hide all the death glares you want.

"What's your real name?"

"Confidential. Take it up with Alec."

"Alec? Oh, you mean Alexander Canus? He's the CEO of the RCC right?"

At that point I didn't know Alec's full name was Alexander. Doesn't exactly fit him in my opinion. He stayed Alec in my mind.

"Yeah. Mind if I ask you a question?"

"It's only fair." Taiyang sipped his coffee.

"Why exactly did you charter the RCC for this? Beacon is barely an hour away, give or take the commute between airships." It wasn't exactly my place to question a customer this way but I could help but try to ease the nagging feeling at the back of my mind.

"Never mind that I have classes to teach at Signal today, I don't want to distract my daughters. They're hard at work with their third year at Beacon and I don't want a sudden appearance from me to ruin that and make them think they can slack off or something." The kind smile on Taiyang'a face offset his words, he clearly cared for his daughters.

"Another thing…"

"Shoot."

"Who recommended you to the RCC, most people only use us as a last resort or as a sure thing."

"An old friend at Beacon, Professor Oobleck has used your service to transport his 'sensitive findings' or whatever." Taiyang was dismissive as he sipped his coffee.

"Ah. Do you know the Courier he used? Repeat clients usually request the same Courier for some reason." I knew most of the active and inactive Couriers in Remnant off my head and was curious, it was probably it was someone I knew.

"Uh…" Taiyang rubbed his temple before snapping his fingers, "Glass? Yeah, his name was Glass."

As expected, I knew the Courier. Glass was a courier stationed at the Atlas office, I didn't know how exactly he had gotten his name but from what I heard he was a solid Courier who had just made gold status.

"Ah, he's a good one." I muttered, boredly running my finger around the brim of the coffee cup.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" I retorted, surprised to see that Taiyang had started glaring at me, cool determination in his eyes.

"Are you a good one," Taiyang asked, reaching into his vest and removing a small yellow envelope from his inner pocket, "Can I trust you to deliver this package to my daughter at Beacon without looking inside and without fail?"

"I'm a Courier, delivering is my business; not what goes on between you and your daughter." I responded, suppressing a small gasp as Taiyang tossed the envelope to me. I managed to catch the envelope without looking like a total spaz and slipped the envelope into the inner pocket of my jacket.

"No one touches that but either of my daughters." Taiyang instructed, pointing at my jacket.

"Not many get the best of me, sir," I began before patting Crocea Mors at my side, "But no one gets the best of me and lives."

"I thought you were a transporter, not a killer." Taiyang said, cocking his head at me as stoic expression fell over his face.

"You'd be surprised how often the two jobs cross," I stated before I began walking out of the kitchen, giving Taiyang a back handed wave, "I'll take care of the delivery."

Taiyang stood, following me as I made my way out, "Good luck."

"I have skill, I don't want luck being a factor in me being able to do my job." I said as Taiyang stepped around me to open the door.

"I have a feeling I won't have to worry about your service."

"That's the guarantee I try to offer."

"Goodbye, Rogue." Taiyang said, standing in the doorway as my sneakers scratched down the dirt path to Patch's road

"Life is a journey, Taiyang, not a destination; who knows if we'll see each other again." I called before Taiyang shut the door behind me, leaving me in the middle of Patch's thick wilderness.

There were a total of zero airships from Patch to Beacon, so I would be forced to take a ship back to Vale then one to Beacon or walk the single lane dirt road that connected Vale and Beacon. A huge part of me wanted to walk it but another, much more fun, idea popped into my head and a quick text to Frost later I was off to the port.

I remember thinking that this would be easy an easy job.

God, I was wrong.

* * *

 **AN: And thus the main story hath begun!**


	4. Chapter 4

_XX51_

" **WHOOOOOOOOO!** "

"Holy mother of God! Joker, slow down!" I remember myself yelling as I was rocketed down the single road to Beacon. Joker had swapped his motorcycle with Frost's car at my request with turned out to be a horrible idea, I had confused Joker's ability to drive a bike (which is still pretty good) with his ability to drive a car (which is still god awful).

"I didn't know cars were so fun!" Joker cheered as we ramped a steep incline, the engine of Frost's car roaring as it soared through the air.

The car slammed down, sending me bouncing from the seat into the roof of the car. I groaned and grabbed my head, screaming profanities that would even make Yang gasp.

"You prick! You're gonna kill us." I shouted, still grasping at my head.

"Nah! I got this!"

"No you don't! You clearly fucking don't- **TREE!** "

The car lurched to the side as Joker managed to drift the car around a sudden corner and NOT crash into a damn tree before coming to a sudden stop, Joker holding the steering wheel with ragged breaths before looking at me, "You wanna drive?"

I didn't even respond, I just spun in my seat and began kicking Joker until he opened his door and collapsed out of the car. After some brief shuffling around, Joker sat in the passenger seat with the window rolled down and his arm hanging out the window; staring out the window as the trees passed and I drove at a much better speed.

"Think Frost with know that I almost just wrecked his car?"

"Probably not if we don't tell him." I chuckled as Joker quietly stared out the window.

"So do I get half the reward for this one?" Joker's side smirk was seen out of the corner of my eye.

"Hell no."

Joker laughed, it was rare for him. Joker was a quiet guy, he didn't like attention or anything that would garner it. It had taken me a while but after two years, I learned about his old life, something that was a rarity in The Couriers. The only thing more personal than sharing your past to Couriers is sharing your name, your true name.

Joker's real name is Giovanni Erba. Or just Gio, if you're Recorder. His family was murdered just a week before we had met, his family's house in the country having burnt to the ground. He had been found by a Courier on assignment and was shortly given to Gerald, another founder of The RCC, who'd convinced Joker to become a Courier. He hadn't been an outstanding or outspoken guy before becoming a Courier, just a bit (a lot) antisocial due to him never really making contact with people beside his parents. After two years he'd become more outspoken, opinionated, and not as afraid to show his emotions. He'd also managed to become one of the RCC's best gunslingers.

"How are things with you and Recorder?" I asked I drove Frost's bright red car down the dirt road at an actually manageable speed.

"Same as ever, she acts like a cute kid and I end up acting like her father," Joker suddenly sat up straight, "I just realized how that sounds…what I just said doesn't leave this car."

"What did you say again?" I asked humorously.

"Even better." Joker mumbled, "Pretend that it didn't even happen."

We drove in silence, a comfortable silence that was rare among others; even friends. It took a good ten minutes before anything interesting broke out comfortable silence. Unfortunately that breaker of silence was a grenade being shot from the trees and into the car's back window where it clattered to the floor.

"What the fuck was that?!" Joker spun in his seat and looked into the back before spinning to Jaune, "Get out!"

"What are you-" I began before Joker rudely undid my seatbelt and kicked me out off the car...through a closed door that proceeded to come off the hinges and acted as a sled as I skirted across the forest floor, clinging to the door before I crashed into an...oak? Redwood? Pine? No, it wasn't a pine. Either way, I crashed into a tree.

"Head!"

Without thinking, I covered the back of my head with my arms as I heard an explosion erupt from the moving car's direction. Getting up, all I could see was the flaming wreckage of Frost's car and out of the corner of my eye I saw Joker dusting off his garrison jacket, "You good?"

"I'm alive and that's good enough," Joker responded as he straightens out his jacket, "The prospect of being grenaded usually warrants a rating of at least forty."

"At least." I spat blood as brushed myself off.

Joker sighed as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a black mask with a two green eyes, the right one with a green X over it, and fastened it to his face and pulled up his hood, "Ready for gratuitous violence?"

I followed suit, fastening my own mask to my face as I caught the sight of shadows moving within the trees, "Do you even know who you're talking to?"

"Unfortunately, I do," Joker stared into the trees on his side of the road before drawing his revolver, "You see em too?"

"Yeah. Got a count?" My distorted voice asked.

"Six or seven over here. You?"

"Four."

"Ready?"

"Always!" I shouted before bolting into the trees, startled gasps were heard as I tore through the trees and underbrush and two of my opponents came into view. Bandits swathed in black and red, armed with long and slightly curved blades.

I slashed out, letting Crocea Mors tear through the air before the bandits dodged my slash and my blade tore through a tree's bark. I took Crocea Mors in a mock two handed grip as the bandits readied their own weapons, "Why don't you walk away before I have to show you how lovely your insides look on these trees."

"We aren't scared of a Courier." One of the bandits spat.

"Your mistake." I said before charging forward. And because I like to keep the element of surprise, I chose to throw my sword into one of the bandits legs. The bandit screamed in pain and confusion blanketed the face of the second visible bandit as I ran at him, before my elbow collided with his face. The bandit stumbled back as I continued my attack and the first bandit attempted to pull Crocea Mors out of his thigh. After ducking under a haphazard slash, I slammed my shoulder into his chest and wrapped my arm around the back of his neck as I ducked under his arm before stepping forward and slamming him down. Planting my knee on his chest, I drew the pistol I had hidden in a holster in the back of my jeans and leveled it at his head before pulling the trigger without hesitation.

The shot hadn't even finished ringing through the air before I had reaimed the pistol at the bandit who still had my sword in his leg and squeezed the trigger again. Standing, my brow furrowed under my mask as gunshots rang through the air, Joker was busy. I walked over to the dead bandit and reholstered my pistol before I retrieved my sword while asking myself a important question, where were the other two bandits?

A sharp snap rang through the air as a shooting pain went through my right thigh...it was a shooting pain because I had just been shot. I fell to one knee as a massive, bulking man with a huge longsword charged out from the undergrowth with his blade raised high.

…

How the fuck did I miss him?

I dived to the side as the blade whistled through the space where my head had just been to see a sniper swathed in black and red, her rifle aimed right at me. I knew I wasn't fast enough to redraw my gun on someone who was already aiming at me and throwing my sword upwards would be a death sentence, even if I managed to hit her.

So I rolled and almost instantly felt the round hit the ground behind me. I quickly dug into my bag and pulled out the first thing I got my hand around, which was thankfully a grenade and not an instant meal. After pressing the button on top of the grenade, I hurled it upwards and smirked as it exploded and heard the bandit screaming as she fell to the ground.

"It's hard being so amazing." I said as I scrambled to my feet, putting most of my weight on my uninjured leg before I stared down the huge bandit.

The bandit charged and with a quick flourish of Crocea Mors, I prepared for an epic fight with the blade wielding behemoth…

Before Joker came out of fucking nowhere, walked right past me, and put three rounds from his revolver right in the bandit's chest; causing the bandit to crash to the ground and slid forward before stopping right at Joker's

boots. The smug bastard turned and shrugged, "Sorry I'm late."

"Nice job, ya know, stealing my kill," I said sheathing Crocea Mors as Joker and I walked back out to the road where a bandit was handcuffed and leaned against a tree, his knees bloody and his face twisted in pain, "Kneecap him?"

"Oh don't be a baby," Joker said dismissively before gesturing to the captured bandit, "Oh and this guy? Yeah."

"Why'd you have a pair of handcuffs?" I asked, crouching down before the bandit and grabbing him by his hair and lifting his head up.

"Not important."

I looked over and raised an eyebrow at Joker, "Do you and Recorder use them-"

"No! Why would you even suggest something like that?!" Joker protested, looking back on it; he was definitely blushing underneath his mask.

"I'm just sayin', it's awfully convenient that you happen to have a pair of handcuffs in your pocket." I said, letting the bandit's hair go.

"Say one more word and I'm gonna kneecap you like I did this moron." Joker leveled his revolver at the bandit's head.

"Chill, Joker," I said before standing and stepping back, "Conversing with the hired help is your skill."

"Is this all I'm good for? Hurting dumbass henchmen," Joker asked before walking forward and setting the barrel of his revolver on top of the bandit's head, "Hey buddy, how bout we make this easier for both of us and you just spill your guts...before I have to use this here gun to spill your guts."

"Fuck you."

"Scathing comeback, truly impressive really." Joker scoffed before committing acts that I will never tell or write, even if you're reading this as young teens or even adults you're not old enough to be told what Joker did to that man.

"Well that was over quick," Joker commented, wiping his hands off on the inside of his jacket, "These pissants never know anything, it's annoying. They just know they're supposed to kill the Courier and take the package.

I got off the tree I had been leaning and brushed my hand against my previously shot leg and unsurprisingly found it to be better than new, my semblance was a useful one to say the least; being a constant passive that healed any damage my body took.

I reached down into my open bag and pulled out the two explosives belts I kept inside it, I hooked the belts onto the loopholes of my jeans so that they hung just below my pockets; I hadn't been expecting combat so naturally I had been traveling without them at the ready.

I was only slightly curious as to why an entire strike team worth of bandits just attacked us over one letter, but I wasn't my business so I didn't dwell on it.

Joker silently watched as I mentally scanned the belts, accounting for every explosive type I had on me, "Leg all healed up?"

"Better than new."

"Nice," Joker looked down the road as I closed and hauled my bag off the ground and onto my shoulders, "How long do you think it'll take to walk to Beacon from here?"

"About an hour, so you're coming with me?" I asked as we slowly began to walk down the path, Joker tapping away on his scroll; reporting the confrontation into RCC so they could go through the proper channels to make sure we didn't go to jail for murdering bandits.

"Well yeah, we don't know if there are more teams of bandits and I'm not gonna make you fly solo."

"I can take em." I growled angrily, despite Frost's earlier chastising of Joker; out of the five of us, I was the weakest in a straight head on fight.

"I know you can, Rogue," Joker said, "I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying I don't want to run the risk of my best friend coming home in a fucking body bag; no matter how good the odds are in your favor."

"You really are an asshole, you know that right?" I asked as I playfully shoved him midstep.

"You remind me every time I dust your ass in Fighters of The Storm."

"Not my fault you're a filthy spammer."

"It's a legitimate strat…" Joker's voice died in his throat as we approached the flaming wreckage of Frost's car, "... Holy shit…"

"I forgot…"

"...That Frost's pride and joy is now a pile of molten scrap metal in the middle of fucking nowhere...?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you wanna tell him or should I?"

"You're about gonna go on vacation with Rec right?"

"Mistralian coast for two weeks, we're leaving tomorrow morning."

"Tell him tomorrow afternoon."

"While I'm on a boat thousands of miles away… Good plan."

"I know."

/~/

 **AN: Sooo...been a minute since I updated this one. Sorry. I blame work and school and unfortunately this probably won't change too much seeing as how I will be moved to full time over the summer. I really am sorry that I simply can't write more but my ADHD is weird and stuff and with all the previously mentioned stuff, it's really difficult to get into the right zone and have the time to write. Hopefully you'll all understand and continue to enjoy my work, Thanks guys.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Quick AN: Someone had the wonderful question of "Does Jaune's altered voice sound like Felix's?"**

 **Yes. Yes. And Yes.**

* * *

 _XX51_

"Rogue! Kill these fucking things!" Joker screamed attempting to reload his revolver one handedly, seeing as how his other was the only thing keeping him from making a thirty foot drop.

"'Let's climb the tree,' you said, 'We'll have the high ground,' you said," I mocked as I shot down into the massive pack of Beowulves that had congregated around the tree and were attempting to climb it, "The high ground isn't doing shit!"

"Don't be a baby," Joker retorted as he lifted himself into a branch and began shooting down into the pack of seventy or more, "Is it freaking mating season!?"

"Yes actually it is!"

"Why do you know that!?"

"Beacon! Keep shooting," I roared as I landed a head shot on one of the Grimm before groaning, "Oh screw it!"

"What do you- **OH YOU IDIOT!** " Joker shouted as I pressed the button down on one of my grenades and hurled it down into the pack...that was at the base of the tree...the base of the tree that was our only refuge at the moment.

"Oh relax, we just gotta stick the landing. My landing strategy is on point!"

"Jaune," Joker said totally serious, knowing he only had two more seconds before the grenade went off, "If we die, Recorder will never forgive you."

"Gio, if we die, I'll never forgive myself." I said before the explosion below shook the entire tree as a good percentage of the Grimm died in a fiery, red dust fueled explosion and to our surprise, the tree didn't collapse immediately.

"Huh, study tree." Joker murmured as the explosion subsided and the remaining Beowulves ran away, all quickly heading for their dens to nurse their burns.

"Yeah- I mean… Of course! I planned for this." I lied, learning against the trees trunk, my feet secured on a branch.

Notice how I said immediately? Almost immediately after my lie, the tree shook and Joker suddenly had the bark in a death grip as the tree slowly began to tilt. Joker simply glared at me as the tree continued to tilt, "You plan for this too?"

"Tell you on the ground?" I said as we began falling much faster; I soon found myself hurtling through the air, having jumped off the tree halfway down, before landing with a roll so perfectly executed that the Health and Fitness Proctor back at the Facility would have applauded my skill.

"Nailed it." I muttered as I ran out of my roll to see Joker landing almost as well.

"Well?"

"Yeah, I totally planned that." I said smugly, causing Joker to shake his head before continuing off in the direction we had been before walking in on the multi-pack Beowulf group...love...making...session.

"How are you on ammo?" I asked as we walked, causing Joker to check the pockets of his jacket.

"I have a few speed loaders left and plenty of loose rounds, how bout you?"

"Eleven grenades, seven pistol clips and ammo for my rifle for days," I said as we managed to complete a rise and saw Beacon's main tower in the distance, "Beacon…"

Joker swallowed before grabbing my shoulder, "I can finish this one off if you want me to, the points and reward are yours man."

"No...I need to do this. I need to prove, I've become better… even if it's just to myself." I shrugged off Joker's hand before marching forward, the afternoon sunlight striking my black and yellow mask.

Joker walked besides me silently, running small maintenance on his revolver as we walked, which caused me to begin going over my own weapons. I doubted we'd run into Grimm or bandits in Beacon Academy but with Beacon...you can never be too sure.

"You anxious?" Joker asked as we passed the main docking bay for airships, the one I threw up on. Thank God I got over my motion sickness.

"What? No. I've thrown down with the worst of the worst, going into some school with kids who haven't even felt real danger yet almost makes me wanna laugh." I lied, in truth, I was anxious. I was nervous. I was terrified.

"You're a horrible liar."

"Only with my friends."

"Sure you don't want me to-"

"Yes, Joker," I spat, before turning to him, "I'm not some little kid, I may not wanna be here but I'm not gonna let that stop that from doing the job I was hired to do!"

I backed away suddenly, realizing that I had been shouting in Joker's, "Gez...Joker, I'm so-"

"Don't lose it now, Rogue," Joker grabbed me by the shoulder before shaking me, "You're right, it was my bad."

I pushed Joker's arm away with my forearm, "Let's get this done...so we can walk home…"

"Fuck…" Joker muttered, causing us both to burst into laughter, "Want me to head out?"

"Yeah...I got this." I said, earning a solemn nod from the person that I saw as someone closer than blood. He'd bled for me and I'd bled for him. He was a brother if I'd ever had one.

I watched as Joker began to walk away before calling out to him, "Joker!"

Joker turned, having lifted his mask up so that it sat on his head, "Yeah?"

"Enjoy your vacation." I said as Joker stared into the afternoon sun before scoffing and waving before he descended into the Emerald Forest.

I turned back to the ivory tower that took up most of the skyline of Beacon before my pressing forward, my sneakers slapping against the polished white stone of the central walkway that everyone saw their first time at Beacon. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't even caught sight of a red blur streaking across the walkway or hear the squeak of, "Look out!"

I groaned as a sudden weight slammed into me but thankfully (or not thankfully) my instincts kicked in and I jumped with the weight and rolled backwards and drew Crocea Mors before standing with my blade at the ready and leveled at a midsized girl...with black and red hair who was wrapped in black and red clothing.

"Ruby?" I whispered silently, watching as the girl's hands shot up and she stared at me in confusion.

"Don't stab me please...whoever you are…" Ruby said awkwardly as I lowered my blade and her arms followed suit.

Ruby had changed way more than I would have expected, she'd grown two or three inches and had grown her hair out a little bit, but she'd also changed her clothes which I had actually expected. She now wore a tight black sweater and a tight red top with frills up the center that only covered her chest along with a red skirt similar to her old one and leggings to match but she no longer wore the combat boots I'd known her for, now she wore red knee high pointed toe boots that were framed a with silver metal. Her cloak was also different, now more like a cape that hung behind her and was held together by her rose emblem pin at the rights side of her collar.

"Sorry, you kinda surprised me." I said as Crocea Mors retreated to its sheath and Ruby gave me an awkward but genuine smile.

"No it's totally my fault," Ruby's smile beamed, "I was running late for class and... **I'M LATE!** "

Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals, leaving me alone for a half moment before she reappeared in another swirl of rose petals, "It was nice to meet you."

I went to reply, but she was already gone.

My left hand rested on the pommel of Crocea Mors as the red streak disappeared into Beacon and I was shocked, she'd changed so much yet so little…

Risking more than I should have, I reached up and pulled off my mask; taking in Beacon with my own two eyes for the first time in two years. My mask rested in my hands before I began to stare at the worn yellow and black metal, my thumbs traced the strange geometric patterns on it as I stared into the dark eyes of the mask and came to terms with the fact that if any of my old friends saw me… they wouldn't see Jaune Arc; they'd see Rogue, a cool and calculated Courier who always got the job done.

I resecured my mask before continuing forward, striding forward confidently. Fake it till you make it right?

I was soon strolling through Beacon's halls, recapturing the memories that had faded from my mind. Memories of late nights spent sneaking into the kitchen for midnight snacks with Nora and Ruby, after school studying with Pyrrha, sparing with Yang and-

I abruptly slammed my fist into the wall, causing the wall to crack under the force before I began to steel myself. I was here to do a job, that's all, no time to get all nostalgic.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't break my school."

I knew that voice, it was the voice that had stolen my previous dream of being a hero, I straightened and let my clenched fist fall to my side before I turned to see that Headmaster Ozpin hadn't changed in the slightest. He still wore the same green suit, had the same white hair, and carried around the same damn coffee mug.

"Apologizes, Headmaster," I said attempting to keep the edge out of my voice, "I'm here on assignment and I'm having some trouble finding the one my delivery is meant for."

"So you're a Courier," Ozpin noted before taking a sip of coffee, "Do tell me, which of my students is meant to be recipient of your package."

"One Yang Xiao Long."

"Miss Xiao Long? What could you possibly be delivering to her?"

I took a deep breath, "To be frank, that's none of your business Headmaster and I legally don't have to disclose anything about my deliveries to anyone besides officers of the government, Alexander Canus, or any other founders of the RCC."

"You Couriers definitely love those rights you've been granted."

"Use it or lose it right?"

"Would you like me to escort you to Miss Xiao Long's class, Mister…"

"Rogue and yes, I would like that very much."

"Rogue, I suppose that is one of those Courier callsign I've heard so much about," Ozpin began before he began walking in the direction Jaune had been, almost forcing Jaune to follow, "Miss Xiao Long is this way."

"I appreciate this, Headmaster Ozpin." I said, it was a formality more than anything; Alex would have beaten me to a pulp if I made Couriers enemies of Beacon.

"It's quite alright, I respect what Alexander has built in such little time; his father would be proud." Ozpin remarked as we walked.

"How do you know, Alec?" I asked as we continued past open classrooms and I saw some students I recognized and some I didn't.

"I don't know him, but I knew his father, and I kept track of him as he continued on in life…"

"Does Alec know?"

Ozpin laughed, "Oh, I have no doubt. A man as connected as Alexander Canus would know the second someone began keeping tabs on him."

"He's a very protective man, he doesn't like being observed." I said gravely as Ozpin stopped in front of a very familiar class, Goodwitch's Combat Class.

"While that may be, I worry about my old friend's son," Ozpin took a sip before gesturing into the classroom, "After you, Rogue."

I entered the classroom and almost felt my breath be stolen from me, memories rushed back to me as I stepped into the previously familiar place and unsurprisingly, there was a match in progress. Ozpin stood beside me and looking into the sparring arena where two students were locked in combat, "Please watch this training match, I would like a Courier's point of view on Beacon's lessons."

I focused on the match and was surprised to see Ruby standing across from a man in armor with burnt orange hair and then I realized who the man was was.

Goodwitch, still looking as young as ever, looked between the students, "Ruby Rose?"

"Ready!" Ruby cheered drawing a weapon that wasn't Crescent Rose, which threw me for a loop. She'd loved Crescent Rose, this new weapon was more like a sword than her scythe; though it still looked to have a gun of some kind integrated into the hilt. The oddly shaped handle was also a cause for attention, it was like the grip of a shotgun: angled and not in line with the blade.

"Cardin Winchester?" Goodwitch asked as Cardin heaved his mace to his shoulder, I was frankly shocked that he'd managed to make it to his junior year of Beacon.

"Ready." Cardin said, he hadn't changed too much; his armor wasn't as flashy as it used to be, now only plain plate armor and, and his hair was cut a bit shorter.

"Good luck, Cardin." Ruby said, flourishing the unfamiliar sword.

"Same, Rose." Cardin smirked as he held the mace up between him and his much smaller opponent. The thing that threw me was the smirk… that damn smirk it wasn't cruel or vile, it was...joking...playful almost.

"What the fuck?" I whispered ever so softly.

"Something wrong?" Ozpin asked.

"No…just interested to see how this match will go." I said, turning back to the match.

"Begin!" Goodwitch called. Ruby rushed forward in a shower of rose petals and landed a solid horizontal slash before dodging a swing of Cardin's mace, flipping through the air and landing prone before rolling away from a strike of Cardin's mace.

Cardin rushed Ruby with his mace low, forcing Ruby back with a volley of quick swings before Ruby rushed to the other side of the arena. Suddenly, the handle of Ruby's blade shot out and her blade began to curve and before I knew it; Ruby Rose was holding a scythe.

"Big guns are out now, huh Rose?" Cardin remarked before Ruby rolled her eyes with a small smile and dashed forward. Cardin slammed his mace into the ground and pulled up on the weapon, causing the shaft of the weapon to pull out of the mace head before he extended the shaft into a bo staff. Cardin slammed a fist against his shoulder plate and surprisingly, all of his armor fell to the dirt, revealing a black long sleeve before he held the staff at the ready.

"OKAY, WHAT THE FUCK?!" I was screaming internally as I continued to watch the match, "Since when did Cardin have a staff?! Since when did Ruby use as sword?! Since when were they on friendly terms?!"

But then something deep within me spoke, call it my conscience or my voice of reason or whatever but it said eleven words that opened my eyes, "Did you really think you were the only one who changed?"

I silently watched the rest of the match, though I was unsurprised when Ruby reigned victorious. She comically stepped on Cardin's laying exhausted form and squeaked, "Ruby Rose is still undefeated!"

"Get offa me." Cardin said, pushing himself up suddenly and nearly tripping Ruby, causing a slight giggle within the class.

"Calm down children," Goodwitch said, reigning in the classes attention, "Now Ruby- Oh, Professor Ozpin, what a surprise."

The class turned in their seats to see the Headmaster of their school but soon, nearly every pair of eyes was on me. The hooded masked man with enough explosives strapped to his body to blow up half of Beacon. Goodwitch had a haunting smile as she glanced at me, "And who's our guest?"

"This is Rogue," Ozpin placed a hand on my shoulder, "He's a Courier here on a delivery; but he's also decided to take part in a combat demonstration for us."

"Excuse me?" I turned to the Headmaster, "I'm here for work, not to train against your students."

"Come now, Rogue," Ozpin looked to me, "I don't know about the rest of the class, but I want to see the widely spoken of fighting skills of the Couriers."

"You have to be joking,"

"Of course not, I'm very interested to see one of Alexander's representatives in action." Ozpin stated with a sip of his coffee.

I ran a hand through my hair beneath my hood before sighing with irritation thick in my voice, "Fine. Send whoever you want at me."

"Excellent. Miss Goodwitch, who is next on the combat roster?" Ozpin asked the platinum blonde as I shrugged off my bag

"Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee."

"Oh dammit," I softly muttered to myself, "Please put me against Weiss, Pyrrha will body me."

"Miss Nikos."

"You coffee consuming snake." I groaned softly as I pulled a three point harness from my bag and began to slip it on before moving my sheath from my belt and connecting it to the three point harness so that Crocea Mors would be on my back.

"Yes sir?" Pyrrha stood and I felt my breath be taken away, she'd somehow managed to become even more beautiful in the two year I hadn't seen her. She now wore her hair in a thick braid over her shoulder and her armor was very similar but more protective and much high quality armor than before with much more beautiful designs.

"Would you be interested in sparring with the Courier here?" Ozpin gestured at me and as Pyrrha examined me I couldn't help but shake my head slightly. Surprise filled her eyes as she notice before smiling a smile that could make a priest burn down a church.

"That would be grand."

"Dammit! Now I have to use explosives…" My internal monologue went, "Now there's gonna be a crater and Alec's gonna have to pay for it and then he's gonna be pissed."

"So be it," I said before walking down the stairs, I vaulted the railing and landing in the trading ring before setting my bag against the wall, "Let's get this done. I have a delivery and a long walk ahead of me."

Pyrrha stared at me, bewilderment in her eyes before nodding and walking out of the classroom before she exited the proper entrance to the training ring from the locker room.

Goodwitch's eyes darted back and forth between Pyrrha and I before looking to me, "Please sync your scrolls to the display."

I pulled out my scroll and tuned it to the heads up display that displayed the two fighters aura levels and watched as Pyrrha and I's aura levels appeared on screen

 _Pyrrha Nikos: 100%_

 _Rogue: 89%_

Pyrrha looked at me, "Are you sure you'll be able to fight to the best of your ability?"

"I fell from a tree, it's not like I did ten rounds with an Ursa, I'll be more than fine." I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"I wish everyone shared your confidence when facing me." Pyrrha muttered softly, so softly that I'm pretty sure only Goodwitch and I heard.

"Pyrrha Nikos?" Goodwitch asked before Pyrrha drew her sword and shield and nodded her head as she dropped into a combat stance.

"Rogue?" Goodwitch asked before I drew Crocea Mors from and held the blade parallel to the ground, pointed at Pyrrha.

"Ready."

"Begin!"

Pyrrha had (somehow) gotten faster and I was forced to raise my blade to block the overhead slash and growled as out blades locked and we began pushing back and forth. I leaned close, my head beside hers before speaking, "How about you hold back on that semblance of yours, I want a fair fight."

I heard Pyrrha inhale softly before she smirked, "I believe that can be arranged."

"Appreciate that." I said before grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward and slamming my elbow into the side of her face, causing her to stumble to the side before I aimed my blade at her again. She quickly scrambled back into a perfect fighting stance, absolutely bewilderment on her face.

"Did he just elbow, Pyrrha?"

"Did he just manage to land a hit on Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha jumped up and stabbed down, forcing me to shuffle to the side as she swung her blade again which I barely managed to parry before making a counter attack that she partied with his shield. She began to strike at my exposed body but gasped as she realized that there was a live grenade between us.

There was a fiery explosion between the two of us, one I was flung out of before managing to land prone with Crocea Mors still in my gasp and with minimal damage

 _Pyrrha Nikos: 79%_

 _Rogue: 81%_

Pyrrha charged out the explosion, cool fury in her eyes as she unleashed a string of attacks that nothing could have prepared me for. Her power and speed was other worldly, godly even.

I locked blades with the crimson haired champion once again before ducking under a shield slash and attempting to sweep her legs out from under her, an attempt that she easily dodged before bashing at me with her shield that I dodged. Pulling a blue and white grenade off my belt, I pressed down on the button before tossing it to my back left.

Pyrrha heard three rapid explosions and realized I had disappeared before her instincts probably kicked in and she raised her shield just in time as I rocked pasted her from her left side. Pyrrha rolled away from me and maintained her stance as we circled and I reached for another blue and white grenade before grabbing thin air and scoffing. "I'm outta movements...dammit."

"You moved using explosives?"

"Movement grenades, lot of force, half second timer, no fire."

"You still take damage, correct?."

"What can I say? Explosives are dangerous."

 _Pyrrha Nikos: 78%_

 _Rogue: 67%_

Pyrrha slowly approached, shield and sword raised, and I walked forward with Crocea Mors raised in one hand. We circled, waiting for the other to make a move, I stepped forward and she stepped back, she stepped forward and I stepped back. I then broke out stand off the only way I knew how, I shot her.

Pyrrha's eyes widened as I suddenly pulled out the pistol and began firing at her, while she charged with her shield raised to protect her vital organs and head.

As she approached, I holstered the pistol and we began to trade blows. It was exhilarating. I felt very alive...very alive. I felt my that rush you feel as you take on an insurmountable challenge, thinking you'll fail, but still putting everything into the challenge. Because if you succeed...you go down in history.

I felt free. I forgot about the audience watching our battle RCC, Beacon, Ruby, Yang, Joker, Frost, Coal, Recorder. I forgot anger and strife and fear. I forgot life and death. It was just Pyrrha and I, Pyrrha and Jaune, Pyrrha and Rogue. It didn't matter. Because I felt...true and unfiltered freedom.

I breathed heavily and held my sword at the ready as Pyrrha stood across from me, sword and shield raised as she also gasped softly for breath. She gave me a small smile, "You seem tired, Rogue."

"I'm not tired, you're tired," I accused, pointing Crocea Mors at Pyrrha, "I can do this shit all day."

"Your Aura tells a different story."

I realized my fatal flaw then, I hadn't sparred in Beacon's style for two years and haven't even considered something that I hadn't even really learned before. Aura Management.

 _Pyrrha Nikos: 28%_

 _Rogue: 16%_

"Shit," I muttered softly, letting my arm and Crocea Mors hang at my side, "I concede."

Pyrrha appeared bewildered as Goodwitch announced Pyrrha as the winner, "But you can still win."

"If this was a real fight, maybe. But as we are, in this fight, not likely," I sheathed Crocea Mors, I stared up at Ozpin, almost forcing Beacon's students to quiet their congratulations of Pyrrha and even a few for me, "Are you entertained?"

"Entertained? I was simply curious to see an actual Courier do battle."

I shook my head before picking up my bag and walking into the locker room, not feeling like vaulting up and into the actual classroom. I sat on a bench and tried to come down from my combat high as fast as possible, trying to be presentable to my client.

"That was amazing." I muttered softly.

"Thank you, Courier."

I turned to see that Pyrrha had followed me into the locker room and was now standing with her hands folded in front of her. My eyes widened beneath my mask, why was she here? Why was she conversing with me?

Pyrrha sat next to me and sighed, "I haven't felt like that in a while to be perfectly honest."

"I'm glad I could give you an enjoyable fight," I said before standing and beginning to walk away, "Good luck, Pyrrha, but I must be leaving; I have a job to do unfortunately.

Pyrrha's armor shifted as she stood suddenly and grabbed my wrist, "Jaune, please don't go."

I froze as one word passed through my mind.

 _How_?

How did she know? How did she discern that it was me? That Rogue and Jaune Arc were one in the same? How? How? How?

"I don't know who you have me confused with but I'm gonna have to ask you to let me go." I said lowly.

"I've only ever seen one other person do a counter like you did to be at the beginning of our fight." Pyrrha said, her grip on my wrist tightening.

"It's not exactly that inventive of a move. In fact, I'm still surprised you fell for it." I lied. It was true, I had used that counter whenever I spared with Pyrrha before...another oversight of mine.

"Even so. I've still only told a handful of people my semblance, Polarity. And unless you're my mother or father, only one of them isn't at Beacon." Pyrrha insisted, pulling me back and forcing me to face her.

I could have knocked her out. For a split second I actually considered it, slamming her head into one of the lockers so I could just finish my job and get outta that place...but I couldn't force myself to do that to Pyrrha.

I softly pulled Pyrrha's hand from my wrist before reaching up with both hands and pulling off my hood, letting my blonde hair fall down before I pulled off my mask...revealing my face to Pyrrha.

"I knew coming here was a bad idea."

* * *

 **AN: The plot thickens. So...this is weird, but I got bored a few nights back and was looking through my D &D player's handbook (as you do) and a question occurred to me. What if Jaune and the Courier crew played a D&D-esque game? So I wrote an OVA with them doing just that. Enjoy, tell me what you think, ignore it, either way it's all good.**

 **OVA**

"You see this skeletal colossus sitting on a massive throne made of the rusted weapons and armor and what seemed to be the long dead bodies of those who have attempted to slay him and as you enter into his chamber, he rises to a height of forty feet and pulls a rusted longsword half that length from where it had been impaled into the ground besides his throne. He is ready to slaughter those who have come to see him fall. I'm gonna need you to roll for initiative."

Joker looked over his Castle Master screen and looked out to see Rogue, Frost, Recorder and Coal all rolling D20s.

What were they doing? Playing something they always managed to find time to do when all five of them weren't working, Castles and Chimeras. A pen and paper RPG that usual happened at their kitchen table where they all sat with an amalgamation of junk food and soda sitting in the center of the table.

"Fifteen." Rogue called.

"Sixteen." Coal called, smirking at Rogue.

"Eight." Frost mumbled.

"Twenty." Recorder cheered.

"And our Skeleton Colossus rolls a…" Joker rolled, "Three...okay, battle order is Recorder, Coal, Rogue and, Frost then our Colossus."

"Whatcha doin' Rec?" Frost asked from across the table as Recorder scanned her character sheet.

"I, Artemis Burstrix The Half-Elven Ranger, draw my Longbow and fire at the Colossus." Recorder said with a little extra flourish as she picked up her D20 again.

"Attack roll."

"Sixteen but when you add my proficiency it's a twenty-one."

"You hit, damage?"

"Nine."

"Okay, so the Colossus recoils ever so slightly from your arrow as Coal makes her move."

"Is there anywhere within the room I can hide? Or anyway I can get out of the colossus's line of sight?"

"Make a perception roll."

"Fifteen."

"It's a very barren room, the colossus apparently likes to keep it clean but there are nooks and groves within the caverns walls that can be scaled to possibly get out of sight."

"I'm gonna try to climb up the cavern wall and to the ceiling."

"Make an athletics check."

"Eighteen."

"Not bad, so you make it to the top of the cavern but you suddenly run into a thick batch of stalagmites that you hadn't seen before."

"Aw, dammit." Coal groaned as Rogue looked over his character sheet.

"I'm gonna draw my long sword as I rush the Colossus and slash at it's shin three times, seeing as how I can attack three times a turn."

"Good plan, Rouge, slap the forty foot tall skeleton with your sword," Frost muttered jokingly before Coal slammed a fist into Frost's leg, causing him to gasp as he held his leg, "That was a good one sis."

"Make an attack roll."

"Sixteen."

"Just barely good enough. Roll for damage."

"Eleven."

"Second attack roll."

"Nineteen and a six for damage."

"Attack roll again."

"Seven."

"With proficiency?"

"Yup." Rogue set his die down and ran his hands through his hair out of frustration, "Your move, Frost. Hope you suck harder than me."

"Oh I won't, because I am Adio Saluja, the Son of the Divine Flame!"

"What do you do?" Joker asked.

"I'm going to run forward and to the side so I don't hit any of my allies as I cast Firestorm on the Colossus!" Frost cheered.

"That's a Dex saving throw right?"

"Yeah, the Spell Save DC is Eighteen by the way."

"You sure?" Joker asked before he began flipping through the player's handbook.

"Yeah, it's eight plus the my proficiency plus my charisma modifier. So eight plus five plus five. Nineteen."

"Wow, talk about OP." Joker said as he shut the handbook.

"Fear my sorcery fool." Frost laughed before Joker rolled for the Colossus.

"Seventeen, good but not good enough, what's the damage?"

"Seven d10."

"Gez, why don't you use that thing more often?" Recorder asked as Frost began rolling his d10 over and over again.

"Because I only use it when I want to style on Rogue," Frost smirked at Rogue, "Fifty-seven damage by the way."

"Wow okay, the Colossus stumbles slightly before swinging his huge rusted longsword at...Yurei."

"Good, I wanna get Bloodied and start dealing real damage." Rogue said as he looked down at his character sheet to check his armor class.

"Okay, Colossus rolls a…" Joker rolled a d20, "Plus the modifier…twenty six."

"Armor class of twelve." Rogue stated.

"Damage is four d6 plus four sooo…" Joker rolled and handful of dice, "Fifteen."

"Easy." Rogue said as he began writing on his sheet.

"Your move, Recorder."

"Okay, so I knock the arcane arrow I got from Zartarian-"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, we might need that for a bigger fight later." Rogue said before he was hit in the temple with a d6, he looked over to see Joker giving him a soft glare.

"No meta gaming during big fights," Joker warned before turning back to Recorder, "Go on, Rec."

"I knock the arcane arrow I got from Zartanian and fire it at the Colossus."

"Attack roll."

"Eighteen."

"Roll a d100."

"What? Why?"

"Zartanian told you that the arrow was enchanted with wild magic so we need to roll a d100 to see what happens."

"Oh, way to go me," Recorder sulked as she rolled the two die, "Forty nine."

Joker looked down at something behind his Castle Master screen before rubbing his eyes, "Only you could roll this shit, Rec."

"What?" Recorder asked.

"Roll for damage."

"Four."

"Okay so," Joker rubbed the lower half of his face and released a short laugh, "As your arrow strikes the Colossus, he attempts to shout in rage and as his jaw opens...pink bubbles float out of his mouth but no sound."

Everyone at the table burst into hysterical laughing fits Frost was soon banging on the table with his head buried in his player's handbook while Coal was trying her hardest to stifle her giggles however, Rogue and Recorder were full on laughing until they began tearing up.

"Okay, okay. My turn?" Coal asked, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah." Joker said as he adjusted his screen.

"So, I'm gonna fling myself off the wall and toward the Colossus, attempting to land on his head." Coal said, getting her d20 out.

"Roll a Athletics check."

Coal rolled the die, "Shit, twelve."

"You undershot the jump, make an acrobatics check."

"Fourteen."

"You managed to latch into his rib cage and hang off the Colossus's fifth rib and you feel yourself being swung around as he moves."

"Good enough."

"I say, 'I'm glad I lived long enough to see that.'" Rogue said before Coal shot Rogue a look.

"Okay, my move," Rogue said, "I leap up and slash at his knee."

"Attack roll?"

"Sixteen."

"It hits. Damage?"

"Ten."

"Nice. So, the Colossus falls to his knee and glares at you and attempts to shout but only pink bubbles come out."

Rogue managed to speak though a small laugh, "Did my jump count as my movement?"

"Uhhh...no."

"Okay, I jump up and onto the Colossus's knee and jump again and quickly slash at his face twice."

"Attack roll?"

"Seventeen and," Rouge rolled another die, "Nine damage for my first strike."

"Second attack?"

"Nineteen and for damage...ten." Rouge said before Frost cracked his knuckles.

"Surfs up scrubs, I got this," Frost said before he looked over his spell sheet, "I cast Lightning Bolt on the Colossus, you gotta make a dexterity saving throw."

"Okay...Nine...maybe giving this thing a four in Dex wasn't a good idea."

"You take eight d6 of damage," Frost said before he began rolling his die over and over again, "Fifty."

"Fifty?"

"Five-oh."

"Congratulations, Adventurers. You've slain the Skeletal Colossus," Joker said and the party shares a small celebration, "So, describe your kill Frost."

"I let lightning arc between my fingers at my side, then I fling the lightning at the Colossus's head; disintegrating it's head on the spot."

"I love it. You all watch as the Colossus slowly begins to fall apart and you all watch as Alice jumps off the Colossus's rib cage in time to also see that soon all the remains in a large fallen longsword and a massive pile of bones. Adventurers, gain twenty-nine hundred experience."

"Nice." Rogue said, accompanied by noises of agreeance from his friends as he and the fellow Couriers all began writing on the character sheets.

"Now, as you all begin celebrating, celebrating Artemis's hilarious arcane arrow, celebrating Yurei's excellent swordplay, celebrating Alice's survival of a forty foot drop into a giant ribcage, celebrating the absolute OPness of Adio's sorcery, you see a bright white orb of raw power rise from the skeletal remains of the beast you had just slain and are all forced to avert and cover your eyes from the bright light shining off the orb of energy," Joker said, painting a picture to the player before taking a drink, "Side note, who wants pizza?"

"You're talking my language, Joke. I'll call if you run and grab more soda." Frost said, standing and stretching.

"I'll pay." Rogue chimed in as he leaned back in his chair.

"You guys suck, I wanna know what the white light is." Coal stated before standing and stretching.

"You saying you don't want pizza?" Frost asked, looking down at his sister.

"Don't put words in my mouth." Coal pointed at her brother as they fell into their pocket of sibling back and forth, acting as wonderful background noise and a challenge for Frost as he managed to order pizza and argue with his sister at the same time.

It was just another night of Castles and Chimeras.


	6. Chapter 6

_XX51_

"Oh Jaune, it is you." Pyrrha cheered, wrapping me into a tight hug.

"Be quiet." I quietly demanded, a demand that fell on deaf ears as Pyrrha's face became buried in my neck.

Pyrrha pulled away and held my shoulders, her smile beamed at me, "It's so good to see you, Jaune."

"It's… nice to see you too, Pyrrha."

"I'm so glad you're back." Pyrrha hugged me again with vice like arms, how could such thin and slender arms be so damn strong?

"I'm… I'm not." I muttered.

"What? What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked her armored hands braced on my shoulders, digging into my jacket.

"I'm not here to stay, Pyrrha," I pushed her arms away, watching as they fell to her side and a slight anguish washed over her beautiful features, "I'm just here for work. I'm doing a job. I'm a Courier, just like Ozpin said."

"You...deliver packages?" Pyrrha asked in confusion.

"Packages, letters, people if they accept the risks of being the package themselves."

"But…that's such a waste."

"What?" I felt my blood run cold.

"You're so talented, Jaune. It's seems like a waste to spend that talent delivering-"

"That wasn't talent, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha was silent, her emerald eyes now clouded as I continued, "I was never talented, Pyrrha. Talent is something you're born with, something I never had. All I did was work hard."

"You almost beat me, Jaune. You're making no sense."

I swallowed before speaking again, "I should go."

"Where?"

I pulled on my mask, my synthesized voice returning, and pulled on my hood before looking at The Invincible Girl, "To deliver my package."

"Wait, Jaune." Pyrrha caught my arm as I began to leave and I looked at her, the black and unfeeling eyes of my mask being all she looked at.

"Prevent me from leaving and you'll be physically restricting me from fulfilling my contract, allowing me to use deadly force according to Article Sixteen of the Canus Bill." Pyrrha quickly removed her hand before I continued, "Should you reveal my identity to anyone without my direct allowance then I will be allowed to pursue charges by Article Thirty Two due to the fact I'll be forced to resign if my identity becomes known."

Pyrrha was stunned and it hurt to say those things...to basically threaten her with force and the RCC's army of lawyers. But I had to, I knew Pyrrha, I knew she'd tell everyone once I left and they'd all go on some merry adventure to come get me, just like they did whenever some new criminal showed up in Vale and I was forced to watch them be heroes on the six o'clock news.

"You've changed, Jaune." Pyrrha said, trying to continue our conversation, but it fell on deaf ears.

Apparently we had all changed then, not just them.

* * *

As I exited the locker room I found Ozpin waiting for me with a raised eyebrow, "You took your time."

"This mask is a real bitch to put on, what do you want from me?" Sarcasm thick in my synthetic voice.

"Very funny." Ozpin sipped his coffee, "I'm terribly sorry to say that Miss Xiao Long isn't here at the moment, she's actually currently on a mission with her partner."

I sighed deeply before tapping the cheek of my mask with a fingernail, a sharp tapping ringing out before I finally spoke, "When will she be back?"

"According to my report, tomorrow afternoon."

I stared at the ceiling for a brief moment, shaking my head before responding to the coffee drinking bastard, "Would you happen to have a spare, empty room? It would just be a waste of money to commute here and back two more times."

"I can arrange that. If you wouldn't mind, could you wait in the cafeteria while I arrange you a room."

* * *

I stared down at my BLT before realizing something, "I can't fucking eat."

I had found myself a nice, quiet, semi-empty corner of the cafeteria to eat my food in before realizing that I couldn't take of my mask to actually eat the food...so my BLT and soda were going to go uneaten until I could sneak them to my room.

"Sometimes I hate this whole secret identity thing." I said as I briefly humored the idea of digging out my disguise kit and going to town on myself.

Throw on some black hair dye, green contacts, a fake lip scar and some glasses and I could possibly pass as someone else. Possibly.

But seeing as how I was in enemy territory and needed to be in a state of constant vigilance, I disregarded the idea and went back to staring my sandwich and soda to death.

Like a normal person.

I swear I'm redeemable. Your mother found some reason to love me so that must be true. I hope. Or maybe she's a closet masochist.

I began weighing my options, I was pretty sure it didn't usually take this long to prepare a room. The paranoia deep in my mind was telling me that I was in a Death Trap of Death and that I should be running or fighting my way out at that moment. But this was Beacon, this was my old home.

It wasn't a Deathstalker infested ruins in Vaccuo, it wasn't the Grimmlands, it wasn't the middle of the ocean during monsoon and I wasn't caught between two pirate companies and was not being forced to help them work out a trade deal. It was my old home, so it shouldn't have scared me like it did.

I sighed, which through me mask sounded much huskier as I began to wrap my sandwich in some tin foil I kept in my pack, "This isn't going according to plan at all."

"What plan?"

I slowly looked up to see Ruby Rose had strolled towards me, hands behind her back as she now stood in front of me, the same small smile on her face as when she was 15. I tossed the food into my bag as I stood and slung it over my shoulder, "Deliver the package and leave, that was my plan, but things complicated it."

"Oh? Like what? Maybe I can help." Her eyes glimmered with the very idea of helping someone, it was nice to see that was the same too.

"Doubtful. Can you get your sister back here quicker?"

"No but wait, you have something for Yang? Also, how'd you know she's my sister. We don't share a name." Ruby cocked her head as I silent berated myself behind my mask, such an amateur slip up.

However, I am a wonderful liar, "The sender told me when I revived the package."

"Was it, Dad?"

"I can't say."

"It was totally, Dad."

"As I was saying, no you can't help me… Thank you though." I added the thanks as an after though, I didn't have to be tough on her like Pyrrha; Ruby didn't know what was behind the mask.

There's also no harm in being civil with the populace surrounding the receiver of a package, future business prospects and such. Granted, I would probably pass them to one of my friends because the idea of running a job for one of my old classmates made me feel like I was gonna break out in a cold sweat.

"It's fine, I get that you guys have a bunch of rules to follow." Ruby said as she began to follow me on my way out.

"You don't seem like the studying type, Miss Rose."

"But my partner is, Weiss knows a lot about you guys and your company."

"Schnee?" I said, feinting ignorance.

"Yup, she said her company hates your company."

"This is very true, Mr. Canus doesn't condone borderline slavery and shady business practices, so we refuse service to them which makes operating in Atlas fairly difficult." I attempted to keep the contempt out of my voice as I spoke, Atlas was practically a death sentence for most Couriers because the Schnee Dust Company refused to budge on their practices and Alec was too proud to let his company stoop low enough to work for them. This lead to Courier distress signals being ignored, authorities often attempting to lie to Couriers and lead them into death traps, defense droids "malfunctioning" and dozens more incidents. It makes my blood boil.

"Hopefully that can change when Weiss takes control of the company." Ruby said, optimism brimming in her voice.

"Yeah, hopefully."

We walked in a comfortable silence for a moment but the more extended it became, the more awkward it became.

"Soooooo...how'd you become a Courier?" Ruby asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I was discharged from Atlas's military after an altercation with a superior officer, a completely autonomous droid facility in the mountains went haywire and droids started to killing and breaking everything in sight. Money is worth more than lives to Atlas so they sent my squad in to deal with them, the superior officer demanded we go in from the front while I suggested we take a small team and go in by a small service tunnel and shut off power to the facility." Jaune regurgitated the same canned response he told everyone who asked about his past.

Every Courier used the same response when clients or civilians asked about their past, it made things easy. Also, the chances of seeing two different Couriers in one place was extremely low. The only time we cooperated while we were active was if it was a tough mission or if one was hurt and another responded to a distress beacon.

"That's horrible." Ruby exclaimed, still as trusting as ever.

"Yeah, that's Atlas for ya though. Rotten to the core."

"You say that even though you're from there?"

"You admit that Vale is peaceful as well as beautiful in the fall, no?"

"Well yeah…" Ruby responded, obviously confused.

"You can point out flaws and positives about anywhere, homeland or not."

"That makes sense," We walked for a little while longer before Ruby broke the silence, "So where are you going exactly?"

"To find Ozpin, he was supposed to be setting a room up for me but that was two hours ago. I wanna know if I'm gonna have to camp in the courtyard tonight or not." I grumbled, heading toward Ozpin's tower.

"I can message him if you'd like." Ruby dug out her from her...skirt pocket? Do skirts have pockets?

"You have his scroll number?"

"Yeah, we recently all got the teachers numbers in case we had assignment questions," Ruby stopped and began typing out a message before closing her scroll, "He responds quickly most of the time."

"Truly neat." Jaune murmured sarcastically.

"I get the feeling you don't like it here." Ruby said, a warm and teasing smile shining tr

"What gave it away? Ozpin pimping out my combat skill for his amusement? The fact I can't eat or even get comfortable? The fact I'll have to stay here overnight when my perfectly good apartment is only an hour away because your sister just happens to be on a mission?" I didn't even try to mask my irritation, I had expected this to take maybe a couple hours. The shenanigans that occurred with Joker were brought on by myself but nothing else was expecting.

"I'm sorry." Ruby smile faded into an expression of genuine guilt and while she was seventeen now, she still looked as innocent as she did at fifteen.

"It's not your fault, Miss Rose."

Ruby brightened slightly as a small smile replaced her grimace, "Call me Ruby."

"It isn't your fault, Ruby."

Ruby began to reply before her scroll vibrated in her hand, "'Please direct my apologies to Rogue, I was sidetracked by other business, he'll be staying in room 106. Please help him find it. Thank you, Miss Rose.' Oh, lucky you, that's right next to my room."

"Of course it is," I rolled my eyes beneath my mask, "Alright, Shorty, lead the way."

"I said, call me Ruby," Ruby slugged my shoulder before jogging ahead of me, "Come on, let's go!"

I followed the excited girl, she'd grown up so much...physically at least, mentally she was still the same girl whose sole dream was becoming a Huntress, "Mind if I ask you something, Ruby?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you training to be a Huntress?"

"Well, they help people-"

"So do the police."

"Yeah but Huntsmen are just so cool! Plus it runs in the family!"

"Who?"

"Both my parents and my Uncle Qrow, Dad doesn't take missions the much anymore because he's busy with teaching at Signal and I don't see Uncle Qrow much though, he's always on missions."

"And your Mom?"

"She...she died," Ruby stopped but turned to stare at me, a small sad smile in her face, "Please don't tell me you're sorry, Mom died doing what she loved, helping people."

"You're angry at her."

The smile disappeared from her face and surprise replaced it, "Wha-"

"You wonder why she had to go and risk her life for people she didn't know, leaving you behind alone. You wonder if those people were more to your mom than you, you're angry that she left you alone," Ruby's eyes widened as she stared at me, shock was the only thing I could see as I continued, "I've lost people too, not a parent but I understand your pain to an extent."

Ruby rubbed her eyes with her sleeves, "If you don't mind me asking, who did you lose?"

"A brother. I was ten and he was eighteen, he was a Huntsman in training at Haven. He was a lot like you, excited and hungry to become a hero...that was his downfall. He was the epitome of cool in my mind, calm and confident, good with ladies, a badass in a fight. Noir was my hero, but he bit off more than he could chew on one mission. He overextended and his team couldn't save him." I said, I hadn't told anybody about Noir. Not Pyrrha, not Joker or Coal or Frost. Not a single soul. I hadn't even mentioned it when I told Ruby about my siblings all those years ago. But I had prodded Ruby to open up about her mother so it only seemed fair. Equivalent exchange.

"Your brother sounds like a hero."

"He _was_ a hero, I would rather have him here though. I just guessed you were the same way," I continued as I passed her, "I'm sorry if I overstepped."

"No, thank you, it's nice… talking to someone about this." Ruby admitted, playing with the hem of her skirt as we continued our walk

"People are much more likely to talk to strangers in my experience, you don't have to worry about what they'll think about you. The mask only adds to that I guess." I chuckled, tapping the yellow metal attached to my face.

"Thank you, Rogue." Ruby smiled.

"Don't mention it," Ruby nodded, "Seriously don't, the less people know about me the better."

"Okay, it'll be our secret." Ruby's smile broadened as she lead me down Beacon's dorm hallways.

* * *

 **AN: Hey, I'm not dead! It's been awhile, a year to be exact… I'm not if I'm back entirely but I am trying to write more than I have been. I've sort of fallen out of love with RWBY after Volumes 4 and 5 so I don't know about my writing. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna keep writing RWBY because I still love the characters so I don't know if I'll stick with my current way of writing or just stick to writing stories in different settings (Like A Thief and His Confidants) either way I'm gonna start a new Knightshade story soon because it's my cocaine and I've been sick for the past week and binge reading a lot of my old followed stories which has got me in a mood.**

 **Keep it real.**


End file.
